Kamen Rider Vitaz
by Myshiroyuki
Summary: A nano-machine Virus that transforms those it infects into powerful monsters is in the hands of five mysterious androids. Only one hero has the ability to cure those afflicted with the Virus. The young man given the title of Kamen Rider Vitaz!
1. Episode 1: I'm Alive

In the middle of a dark alley, three women were heading back to their dorm after hours of drinking and partying. They were constantly tripping on nothing and laughed at each other for no reason at all. One woman started vomiting but quickly went back to laughing with her friends despite vomiting every few minutes. Another one of the three women used her friends shoulder for support before she spoke.

"What the hell is that guy's problem? Thinking he had a chance with us, ha! " The woman using her friend shoulder for support laughed.

The vomiting girl lifted her head from the bucket she used to vomit in. " We're much too high-class women for men like that, " the girl said before vomiting again.

" We don't need those stuck-up men to have fun! We're still young and sexy!" The woman who had her shoulder be used as support yelled lifting a empty wine bottle into the air.

The three young women yelled in agreement but went back to laughing quickly. The girl vomiting wanted to laugh with her friends but was too busy emptying her stomach into a bucket. In the middle of her nausea, the girl felt something large and sticky fall on her shoulder. The drunk girl took a moment to touch the mysterious substance on her shoulder and instantly found out what it was.

" Spiderwebs? " She whispered looking at the clump of spiderwebs sticking to her hand.

More clumps of spiderwebs fell on the girl so fast that she wasn't able to scream before a powerful creature pulled her into the sky with a rope made out of its web.

The other two drunk girls didn't notice their friend had been kidnapped until the one using her friend's shoulder took a glance behind her.

" Asami? Where are you, Asami?" The girl said looking around. The girl pulled on her friends sleeve and pointed behind her.

" Where did she go? " Her friend said when she turned around.

The two called out for their friend but nobody responded. Noticing their friend had disappeared caused the two to come to their senses for a while. They searched for their friend but couldn't find her.

While they were separated, the creature who kidnapped their friend had trapped the drunk girl, who needed her friend's shoulder for support, in the same webs it used to kidnap Asami. The girl was dragged into the sky trying to scream for help.

The last girl noticed her other friend went missing almost immediately. She stood in the middle of the wet and dark alley, terrified and confused.

" Junko! Asami! You better not be messing with me! " The girl screamed.

The girl continued to scream at her missing friends until she noticed the shadowy figure standing just a few yards from her. The humanoid spider-like monster with six arms stared at the girl with six red eyes that glowed in the darkness.

The monster immediately started running after the girl the moment after she saw him. The girl started running away after she saw that the monster was definitely after her. She screamed for help until her lungs started to hurt but the girl continued to scream. Whatever was chasing her was making clicking sounds with its mouth, sounds that the girl heard better the closer the monster got to her. In less than a minute, the monster was less than a foot away from catching the last girl.

The monster yelled the moment it threw all six of its arms to capture the girl.

" Die, you evil witch! "

The roar of a motorcycle and the blinding lights that appeared from the vehicle stopped the monster. The monster screamed in pain as the sudden increase in light caused its six eyes pain. It blocked its eyes with its arms until the monster could make out the figure who saved the girl from being captured.

A mysterious being wearing a silver suit sat upon the silver motorcycle. Both the motorcycle and its mysterious rider had gold circuits running up their bodies with a huge V spelled on the man's chest with the golden circuits. Visible electricity ran through the circuits with a few sparks flying off the suit and motorcycle. The gold insect eyes on the rider's helmet stared directly at the monster, causing the creature to take a step back from the sudden feeling of dread the stare gave it. The mysterious rider got off his bike and tossed his silver and gold scarf aside. He continued to stare at the monster without taking another step forward.

The surviving girl ran up to the mysterious rider and stared at him with a little awe.

" Get out of here! " The mysterious rider ordered, his voice sounding like a mixture of a computerized voice and a normal young man's voice.

The drunk girl didn't move. " But my friends are… "

" Don't worry! I'll save them! " The mysterious rider assured the girl. " So hurry up and run! "

The surviving girl gave the mysterious rider a nod and started running as far as she could from them.

" That girl is my prey! " The monster screamed at the mysterious rider after the girl had escaped. " What the hell are you doing getting in my way? "

The mysterious rider threw his hand forward and pointed at the monster.

" Every human being is under my protection! Not a single life will die at the hands of a Virus as long as I call myself a Kamen Rider!" The mysterious rider answered.

The monster clenched each one of its six hands. "A what!? " The monster yelled demanding an answer.

The mysterious rider took a step forward and threw his hand forward to point at the monster again.

" I am one of the great heroes given the title of Kamen Rider! " He yelled pointing at himself with his other hand's thumb. " I am… "

The mysterious rider swung both of his arms down while taking another step forward. A powerful burst of electricity blasted out of the man's whole suit as he told the monster his name.

" Kamen Rider Vitaz! "

….

" And that's all I remember from that night, " the surviving girl said after finishing the story she told her other two friends in the coffee shop close to their college. " The rest is a bunch of drunken blurriness. "

Her other two friends, a brown-haired girl named Aki who had a little bit of a overbite and another black-haired sleepy girl named Shiho who wore a thick blue sweater and tight jeans, simply stared at the girl after hearing her story.

"Hana-san, that story doesn't sound very believable, " Aki said placing her chin on the palm of her hand. " I mean, a Kamen Rider? Really? Maybe you were hallucinating from all that beer you drank and thought the guy chasing you was a monster and the guy who saved you was one of those legendary Kamen Riders. "

" But Junko and Asami both appeared at the police station in the morning, " Hana argued.

" Maybe the guy who saved you scared the kidnapper away and he couldn't get them, " Aki told her.

" Yeah! That's what I told you! " Hana yelled. " Kamen Rider Vitaz defeated the monster and saved my friends! "

" But it could have been a normal, if somewhat stupidly heroic, guy who happened to be there at the right time, " Aki argued. " Besides, your story hold no credibility since while it happened, you were so drunk you could barely see straight. "

Hana crossed her arms and pouted her lips. " I saw a Kamen Rider, " she mumbled.

Aki ignored the angry Hana and turned to her other friend Shiho, who hadn't spoken a word since they heard Hana's story. Shiho, however, had fallen asleep where she sat during the time Aki and Hana were arguing. The young woman snored while her other two friends stared at her.

" Wake up, Shiho-san, " Hana said snapping her fingers next to the sleeping girl's ears.

Shiho immediately sprang back into consciousness and looked at her surroundings in a hurry before remembering where she was and who she was with.

" Don't yell in my ears, " Shiho mumbled.

Hana stared at Shiho confused as to why she thought she had yelled in her ears.

" Shiho-san, that's the fifth time you fell asleep after drinking a whole cup of coffee, " Aki pointed out looking at the empty cup Shiho held in her hand. " Are you getting any sleep at all? "

Shiho shook her head. " Not really, " she answered picking up her second cup of coffee.

" If you can't sleep, then you should go see a doctor, " Hana said sounding concerned.

Shiho took a sip from her coffee. " I'm sure it's just stress, " she told them while scratching the bandage she had on her right forearm.

Her two friends didn't believe her but they couldn't do anything else with the subject. Instead, the two girls went back to arguing whether or not Hana really met a superhero or if it was just an hallucination.

Shiho soon found herself drifting between being awake and asleep while her friends argued.

…

A handsome young man with a black ponytail walked alongside the iron-wrought gate built around the university. The young man watched the groups of student moving around the campus, his eyes studying the features of everyone that entered his line of sight. Not a single person caught his attention for more than a few seconds. None of them had what the young man was looking for.

Loud beeps coming from above made the young man look up to see a tiny and mechanical robot that resembled a eagle. The mechanical eagle beeped louder as it landed on the man's palm.

" Welcome back, Eagle, " the young man said petting the robot's beak.

The young man noticed that the mechanical eagle held something in its beak. " What do you have? " He whispered as he pulled on the string in its beak, forcing the mechanical eagle to drop what it held onto his palm. The young man thanked the mechanical eagle, making it release a bunch of happy beeps, before he pushed the button on the top of its head. The mechanical eagle instantly reassembled itself into a smartphone that the young man pocketed.

" Now, what did my little friend bring me? " He said looking at his palm.

He pulled on the string until he recognized what it was.

" A spiderweb, " he whispered. " This proves it… that Virus is here. "

The young man pocketed the spiderweb and took another look at the university. While he didn't expect to find anything, one student caught his eye. A young woman in a blue sweater who looked like she needed to have a good night's sleep. The girl gave off the same signals of the being he was looking for.

" The Virus came in contact with you, " the young man said smiling.

The young man started to climb the fence but the moment his feet left the ground, whistles blew as two security guards appeared.

" You can't climb this fence! " One yelled grabbing the man's silver shirt.

" Get down! " The other yelled helping his fellow security guard pull the man off the fence.

The young man struggled with the two security guards trying to pull him down. After five minutes of flailing arms and legs, the two guards got him down and dragged him away.

…

" Arai-san! "

Shiho's eye sprung wide open again after she heard her teacher yell. For a moment, she didn't know where she was until she remembered that her biology teacher had wanted to speak with her after class. She thought about hitting herself for almost falling asleep while her teacher was talking to her but decided against it.

" I wanted to talk to you about your recent drop in grades but I think I can see the reason, " her teacher said looking up at Shiho while sitting at his desk. " When was the last time you slept, Shiho-san? "

Shiho honestly couldn't remember the last time she actually slept. She's been living off caffeine and the times she almost fell asleep in order to function but she hasn't had a real night's sleep for over a week. Even before that, she's been having trouble falling asleep for months. The lack of sleep was severely affecting her studies and overall health but Shiho kept going to class.

" Three days, Kuneo-sensei," she lied while scratching her bandaged right forearm.

Her teacher Kuneo tried to make eye contact with the girl but Shiho was unable to take her eyes off the floor.

" You should try to get some sleep before you do anything, Arai-san, " he sighed. " I know how much stress you're feeling right now but it'll only get worse if you don't get some sleep. You used to be one of my best students but your assignments lately are taking a big drop in quality. As your teacher, it is my duty to worry about your mental health if it gets in the way of your work… "

" I really don't want to talk about it, " Shiho interrupted.

Her teacher stood up and patted Shiho's shoulder. " I understand if you don't want to talk but I'll need a promise that you'll do better on future assignments. "

Shiho nodded. " I'll do my best, Kuneo-sensei. "

Shiho bowed to her teacher and hurried to leave the classroom. She slowly made her way across the school campus towards the student's dorms. A few times, she drifted off and almost ran into a wall. A male student had to help her a little while she walked to the dorms. Shiho forced herself to stay awake long enough to reach the girl's dorm and walk up the stairs to her room. She immediately dropped onto her bed the moment after she entered her dorm room.

An hour later and Shiho still remained awake on her bed, still drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness. She wasted a little time by reading the letters sent by her relatives but every word of encouragement in the letters made the girl bite her lower lip. She tossed the letters into the trash bin after another hour.

The sun was setting outside and Shiho still couldn't sleep.

Shiho's mind wandered off to times where she was able to sleep the moment she laid her head on her pillow. She never had as much stress back then as she did now. Her grades were great and her family was proud of her but that only added to the stress she felt. She knew her sleeping problems were connected to her stress but that wasn't the only reason.

" I'm so tired of everything… "

" Tired of everything? Is that really possible? "

Shiho's eye sprang wide open again at the sound of a young man's voice. Her eyes moved around the room, searching for the source of the voice, until she saw the handsome young man sitting on her roommate's bed. The man's silver t-shirt glowed in the darkness of the room but Shiho's eyes were focused on his skin. His pale skin looked normal but if she looked close enough, she could see golden circuit-like veins underneath.

The two stared at each other for a whole minute

It took a moment for Shiho to realize that her unexpected visitor was a boy trespassing in the girl's dorm.

" Securi- "

The young man dove to muffle Shiho's mouth with his hand. " Please, don't call the security, " the man said ignoring the fact that the girl was biting his hand. " It was hard enough to escape the jail cell the first time. I really don't want to waste anymore energy dealing with the security again. "

Shiho tried to speak but her voice was muffled by the young man's hand.

" Normal humans tell each other their names at their first meeting to make conversation easier, " the young man told Shiho. " My name's Yukio Kikaido. So, when I remove my hand, will you tell me yours and not call security?"

Shiho was too tired to scream again so she nodded and the young man named Yukio removed his hand.

" Shiho Arai, " she told him.

Yukio gave Shiho a smile after she told him her name.

The young man sat down on her roommate's bed. " I've been told it's against the rules for a male to be inside a girl's room without permission but I have to make an exception this time. I can feel the signal of a Virus coming from you. "

" A virus? Shouldn't you solve that problem with a computer?" Shiho asked not hearing that Yukio came to her because he felt the signal of a Virus on her.

" Not that kind of virus, " Yukio told her. " I mean the Virus that infects those who can't fight back against its influence. "

" So the medicine definition of a virus? "

Yukio sighed. " No, not that one either, " he said shaking his head. " They're these humanoid monsters… "

Yukio stopped speaking the moment he felt the signal he was looking for. Shiho stared at him confused as he stood up and walked around the room.

" The Virus is activating, " Yukio whispered.

Shiho wondered what he meant but the answer came immediately. Screaming came from outside the dorm, causing Yukio to run to the window of Shiho's room. Shiho was surprised to see Yukio get ready to jump out of the window.

" Wait! This is the third floor! " Shiho warned him.

Yukio ignored Shiho's warning and leaped out of her window. Shiho jumped to her feet and ran to her window. She saw the young man fall three stories into the grass but instead of breaking his legs, Yukio landed on his feet with no injuries and began running towards the screams.

" How in the… " she whispered watching him run away.

Curiosity overpowered her exhaustion and made Shiho hurry to leave her room and exit the building. She instantly saw the reason behind the screams she heard from before.

A massive spider's web was made around the front of the girl's dorm and several female students were stuck to the web. Every one of the women trapped were either screaming for help or trying to escape the web.

" You are all my prey, you soul-sucking leeches! " A deep and menacing voice roared from above Shiho. " Once caught in my web, you will never leave unless I say so! "

" Don't worry, I'll get you free, " Yukio assured one of the women trapped in the web.

Shiho turned her attention to Yukio and saw that he managed to rip apart the web around the women. He told the woman to run to safety before he ran to the next one trapped in the web. Shiho couldn't let him do it alone so she ran over to him and helped him free the second trapped woman.

" You should get away too, " Yukio told her while moving on to the next trapped student with Shiho. " My scan show that you are sleep-deprived and in no condition to be moving at the moment. "

" I don't care, I'm helping, " Shiho responded.

" You! You are the friend of that witch who escaped! " The deep voice from before yelled.

Yukio pushed Shiho aside as a black humanoid spider-like monster with six arms came down from above and struck the ground where Shiho used to stand.

" Don't get in my way! " The monster yelled at Yukio grabbing his arm and tossing him into the wall of the girl's dorm.

Shiho ran to Yukio the moment after he fell back to the ground. She looked for injuries but for a moment, she believed that he only got a little dirty until she looked at the arm that the monster grabbed…

There was only a stump where Yukio's arm should be.

But Yukio wasn't bleeding red blood, instead he bled a silver liquid out of a wound with hundreds of wires sticking out of it. Sparks of electricity even fired out of his wound.

Shiho spun her head around to see that the monster was holding the still moving arm of Yukio's. The monster soon noticed that he was holding an arm that made hand gestures and promptly dropped it out of surprise. The two watched as the arm crawled its way back to Yukio.

" Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm not human, " Yukio told Shiho after grabbing his severed arm off the ground.

Shiho watched as the silver liquid oozing out of his wound turned into thousands of long thin strings that grabbed the severed arm and reattached it to his body in less than a minute.

" What the hell are you? " The monster screamed after seeing Yukio reattach his own arm.

Yukio chuckled at the monster's question. " I'm an android given life, " he answered while taking out a large silver and gold smartphone.

The young man gestured Shiho to step back. " You may want to stand back for this, " he warned her.

Shiho, still shocked from seeing Yukio's severed arm reattached itself, listened to his warning and took a few steps away from him. After seeing Shiho step away, Yukio swiped his finger across his phone's screen, turning it on. Over ten different icons set up as a wheel appeared on the silver screen after he turned it on. Yukio's finger spun the wheel until he found the icon of a belt, which he then pressed.

**" Executing Driver App! "** A computerized female's voice announced.

A metal belt with an empty slot big enough for his phone to fit in appeared around Yukio's waist.

" There you are, Shiho! "

Shiho didn't turn her attention away from Yukio as her friends Aki and Hana, in their pajamas. ran over to her. Both Aki and Hana checked Shiho for anything wrong with her but found nothing.

" We didn't find you in your room after that scream and we thought something had happened to you! " Aki said in a hurry after hugging Shiho.

" What's going on? " Hana asked taking a look at what Shiho was looking at.

Hana immediately noticed the huge spider-like monster and pulled on Aki's shirt. " That's the monster who tried to kidnap me! " She yelled pointing at the monster.

" So you were telling the truth… " Aki whispered. Aki then noticed Yukio. " But who's that guy? "

Shiho and the others watched as Yukio placed his smartphone sideways into the empty slot of his belt. Sparks of electricity flew out of his phone as the icons on the screen begun to shake and flash brightly. Yukio stretched out his arms as the electricity coming out of his phone grew stronger.

**" Executing Vitaz App! "**

" Henshin! " Yukio yelled swinging his arms towards the phone, swiping the phone's screen with the tips of his fingers.

Yukio spun his whole body as a spinning wheel of electricity came out of his belt. The wheel spun in a perfect orb around Yukio with blasts of electricity striking him, creating a shining silver suit over the young man. Golden circuits appeared in the fabric of his silver suit and with one last blast of electricity, a helmet with insect eyes was created over Yukio's head. The transformation ended with the fully transformed Yukio tossing his silver scarf aside, creating a powerful gust of wind that almost blew the three girls off their feet.

Aki and Hana were struck silent as they stared at the shining silver Kamen Rider that had just appeared in front of them.

" It's him! Kamen Rider Vitaz!" Hana screamed jumping out of joy of seeing the hero who saved her.

" It's you! " The monster yelled terrified at the appearance of the one who defeated him before.

Yukio took a step forward and pointed at the monster. " I'll show you… " he said taking another step forward.

" That hurting humans when I'm around is a very bad idea! "

After yelling, Yukio charged at the monster. When he got close to the monster, he threw a flurry of punches at the monster's hairy chest. Each punch that came in contact with the monster's skin sent a powerful burst of electricity into its body. The monster yelled in pain as electricity surged throughout its body. The monster tried to attack Yukio with its own fist while it was in pain but each punch was parried easily and returned with another punch of his own from the young man.

Yukio finished his beating by kicking the monster, sending it flying into its web.

" You idiot! You can't fight me when I'm in my web! " The spider monster cackled as it scurried across its web, waiting for a chance to attack Yukio.

Yukio, instead of reacting like the monster wanted, chuckled at it. His right hand touched the screen of the phone on his belt, bringing up the wheel of icons. Yukio spun the wheel until he found the icon he wanted. With a simple tap of his finger, a computerized female's voice announced the name of the icon he picked.

**" Executing Gun App! "**

A blast of electricity exploded out of the phone and from the electricity, Yukio pulled out a silver and gold firearm that looked like larger and thicker version of a pistol.

Yukio took the gun he created and aimed its barrel at the scurrying monster on its web. The monster tried to hit Yukio with a rope of its web but failed as he blasted the rope with a bullet of electricity before it could hit him. Yukio took the moment it was surprised to fire three more bullets at the monster with all three hitting it.

The monster screamed in pain as it fell to the ground, twitching from all the electricity surging through its huge body. It took enormous effort for the monster to get back to its feet but by then, Yukio was already preparing his final attack.

" Ready to charge, " Yukio said leaning on his right leg and swinging his arms to his sides.

Yukio pressed another icon on his phone, making the female voice announce his choice.

**" Executing Overcharge App! "**

Electricity exploded out of Yukio and the golden circuits in his suit glowed brightly as the electricity traveled through them to gather into his legs. Using the electricity that gathered into his legs, Yukio leapt into the sky, jumping higher than any nearby building. While he hung in the air for a few seconds, Yukio focused all of his electricity into his right foot as he began to fall back to the earth. He bent his left leg as the electricity coming out of his right foot increased in intensity and strength. His body fell down to the earth faster and faster until he was like a bolt of lightning about to strike the monster.

" Lightning Rider Kick! " Yukio screamed.

The monster screamed as Yukio's kick struck him in the chest. The force of his kick was so strong that he pierced the monster's body and came out of its back, leaving a huge gaping hole where he struck him. For a few seconds, the monster stood despite its injury but quickly lost the strength in its legs. It fell to the ground and the moment it touched the earth, the monster exploded.

" He won! " Hana screamed jumping up and down and throwing her arms up.

" He's so strong, " Aki whispered still in awe of the fight she just watched.

Shiho remained silent as she grabbed her throbbing and bandaged right forearm. She begun scratching the bandaged arm furiously but no matter how much she scratched, the itchy sensation wouldn't go away.

" It's time to vaccinate the victim, " Yukio said standing up and turning around to the cloud of black smoke rising out of the spot where the monster exploded.

Yukio, however, gasped when he saw that there was no body where he was sure the victim should have appeared. Instead, there stood a young woman in a floral print kimono who had waist-long silky black hair and a beautiful face that exuded a noble nature. If one looked close enough at her pale skin, however, they would notice that she had the same circuit-like veins as Yukio.

" Maybe you should focus on that girl before you try to figure why I saved my Spider Virus, " the woman said, her voice sounding slightly computer-generated.

" Yukino… " Yukio whispered as he stared at the young woman.

The young woman giggled after hearing Yukio say her name and lifted the closed fan she held in her hand and used it to point at Shiho. The woman soon disappeared in a gust of wind after she saw Yukio turn his head towards the girl.

" What's wrong, Shiho? " Hana yelled watching her friend tear at her right arm with her nails.

" Stop scratching your arm! " Aki yelled trying to stop Shiho from scratching her arm but got pushed aside by her friend.

" My arm is so itchy… " Shiho cried unable to stop scratching her arm.

Yukio hurried to Shiho's side and looked at her bandaged right arm. He pried her left hand away from the right arm and used his free hand to rip off the bandages. Yukio cursed when he saw the swelling blue welt that hid underneath the bandages.

" What's wrong with her? " Aki asked Yukio.

" She's been infected, " Yukio answered. " Her sleeping problems and itchy right arm are the unique symptoms she developed after being injected with the nano-machines… "

" Injected? Injected with what? " Hana asked.

" The same Virus nano-machines that created that spider monster… "

Shiho screamed and kicked Yukio with much more force than an exhausted woman like her should be able to. Yukio dropped the girl and she started to run away from the three. She could feel something in her blood changing her body into something else. Her hearing became so sharp that she could hear only four words be spoken over the mass of sounds that plagued her ears.

**" Bat Virus Corruption Start… "**

_To Be Continued…_

* * *

**Author's Note: Thank you for choosing to read my fanfic.  
**


	2. Episode 2: I'm Alive part 2

Shiho screamed as a black energy exploded out of her body. The black energy enveloped her in a veil of the energy. An invisible force molded the energy surrounding Shiho's body until it resembled a humanoid bat with pointed ears and long claws. Once it had been shaped, the energy transformed into living purple flesh. Leathery wings sprouted out of the fully transformed Shiho's back, at which pointed she released a high-pitched screech. Her two friends covered their ears from the screech but Yukio kept his eyes on the transformed Shiho. After finishing her screeching, Shiho charged at Yukio but instead of attacking him, she leapt over his head and flew into the sky.

"Come back, Shiho! Vitaz can help you!" Hana yelled running after her airborne friend.

Yukio grabbed Hana's arm, preventing her from chasing after her friend.

Hana turned to her hero, tears streaming down her face. "Please, you have to save my friend!" she yelled grabbing Yukio's hands. "You saved Junko and Asami... you can save Shiho too!"

Yukio took a glance at Aki and while she wasn't crying like her friend, she still looked just as concerned for the transformed Shiho.

"Don't worry," Yukio said pushing Hana aside. "As long as I have the title of Kamen Rider, nobody will die at the hands of a Virus, not even the one infected!"

Yukio kicked off the ground and started sprinting in the direction he saw Shiho fly. Soon, he saw the transformed Shiho flying in the sky. Yukio tapped the screen of his phone, bringing up the wheel of icons on the screen. He spun the wheel and tapped the icon he wanted, causing a computerized female's voice to announce his choice.

"**Executing Vitacycle App!"**

A ball of electricity fired out of Yukio's belt. The farther the ball of electricity went, the larger it got until it was bigger than Yukio. Two beams of light flashed in front of the ball as the engine of the motorcycle roared from within. The young man jumped into the ball of electricity and came out riding a silver motorcycle covered in the same golden circuits as him. Yukio weaved through the traffic and rode into the highway. On the long stretch of cement, Yukio drove his motorcycle at its maximum speed to chase after Shiho.

"Won't catch her like this," Yukio whispered noticing Shiho's position in the sky.

He tapped his phone's screen and picked out another icon, this time being the icon of a pistol. Another blast of electricity came out of Yukio's belt. From within the electricity, the young man pulled out his firearm. With a gun in hand, Yukio aimed the barrel at Shiho and fired more than ten bullets made out of electricity. Every bullet either missed its target or was dodged but the young man continued to fire bullets. None of the bullets struck their target but the goal was accomplished.

Yukio had forced Shiho to fly in front of him, giving the young man a straight line to the transformed girl.

The android tossed aside his gun and released his grip on the handlebars. With incredible balance, Yukio stood up on the motorcycle's seat and swiped his finger across his phone's screen. He tapped another icon on the screen, an icon showing many bolts of lightning. The computerized female's voice soon announced his choice.

**"Executing Overcharge App!"**

Electricity exploded out of Yukio's suit after the announcement and traveled through the golden circuits of his suit to gather into the man's legs. Using the electricity gathered in his legs, Yukio leapt off his motorcycle towards Shiho. The young man shot through the air, leaving a trail of electricity behind him. He flew through the air, coming within a few feet of touching Shiho but that was as far as he was going to go. Gravity came into effect as Yukio started to fall back down to earth.

His fingers swiped the screen of his phone but the computerized female's voice that came out of his phone only told more bad news.

**"Low battery! Shutting Down!"**

"Damn it! Two Overcharges in a row is still too much!" Yukio yelled as his transformation undid itself in a flash of light and electricity.

The young man yelled at the top of his artificial lungs as he crashed into a condemned building.

...

"Are you sure saving the Spider Virus will pay off in the future?"

The mysterious woman named Yukino spun around to see a tall handsome man in his early twenties standing behind her. The young man wore a double-breasted suit that had over thirty different pins of cartoonish characters pinned to his jacket and sleeves. His skin was just as pale as Yukino's and if one looked close enough, he too had golden circuit-like veins.

"I'm planning something that uses both the Spider and Bat Virus," Yukino told the man. "But it's none of your business how I use my Viruses, Yukiteru."

"I am not telling how to deal with the humans you infect or how you use them," the man named Yukiteru said stopping with Yukino as the two reached an intersection and had to wait for the walk signal to appear. "I am simply questioning your decisions, Yukino."

"Go and bother Yukiko or Yukimaru about their Virus plans," Yukino told him while staring at the signal, waiting for it to turn green. "At least those two are idiotic enough to take your suggestions seriously."

Yukiteru sighed and continued to wait for the walk signal with Yukino but the two stood on the sidewalk for over five minutes and yet, the signal remained red. Yukiteru bit his lip as he snapped his fingers, shattering every traffic signal nearby. Accidents happened almost instantly as cars crashed into each other. The two ignored the accidents and crossed the street without paying much attention to the mass of people gathering around the wrecked and smoking cars.

"Yukiya is going to get mad," Yukino said taking out a floral-patterned umbrella.

"I don't care," Yukiteru replied. "That signal should have switched to walk. It's not my fault it annoyed me."

Yukino chuckled as they walked down the sidewalk.

...

Luckily for Yukio, he crashed through a three-story condemned building occupied by people who wouldn't call the police for any reason. Him crashing through the ceiling spooked every person in the building and made them flee. No police or curious citizen came to investigate the crash site where Yukio laid. It was another stroke of luck for the young man as Hana and Aki witnessed his falling back to the earth and spent all night searching for him in the area where they saw him crash.

"He definitely crashed here," Aki said looking up at the hole in the ceiling that went through three floors. She squinted as the sunlight pouring through the hole in the ceiling was a little too bright.

"Vitaz-sama must be under that debris," Hana said pointing at the debris created from three floors collapsing on top of Yukio. She hurried over to the pile and began throwing aside the debris. She turned to Aki after noticing her friend wasn't helping. "Come on, we need to get him out."

"Didn't want to hurt my back but okay," Aki responded running over to help Hana.

The two girls threw aside the debris, straining their arms and backs with each piece thrown. It took a while but the girl's finally got the debris off of Yukio's head.

"Vitaz-sama!" Hana yelled getting on her knees next to Yukio's head sticking out of the pile of debris. "Are you okay, Vitaz-sama?"

Hana slapped Yukio's cheeks, hoping to wake the man up. Yukio didn't open his eyes despite having been slapped over twenty times with each slap being stronger than the last. In a last ditch attempt to wake him up, Hana grabbed his ponytail with both hands and pulled it as hard as she could. Hana, however, fell backwards because she used too much strength to pull on the ponytail of a young man's severed head.

Aki stared wide-eyed and mouth open at the severed head Hana held by his ponytail. It took a second for Hana to realize that Aki's horrified expression was because she was currently holding a severed head.

Both girls screamed at the top of their lungs with Hana dropping Yukio's head. Their screaming continued until Hana dropped on her hands and knees in front of Yukio's severed head.

"You can't be dead, Vitaz-sama," Hana cried. "You're a Kamen Rider. A hero like you can't die this young!"

"...I'm not dead."

Hana looked up at Yukio's severed head to see that the android had his eyes open and was staring at her. Again, shock rendered the two girls silent for half a minute. When they realized it, both girls once again screamed.

"He's become one of the undead!" Aki screamed kicking Yukio's head across the room until he bounced off a crumbling wall. Aki picked up a large piece of debris and charged towards Yukio with the intent of bashing his head into paste with the rock.

"I'm not undead!" Yukio panicked as Aki charged at him.

"Stop! He's a Kamen Rider, remember?" Hana yelled jumping in front of her friend, stopping her from smashing her hero's severed head.

"And I'm not dead in any form!" Yukio yelled at Aki. "I'm an android so severing my head won't kill me. Smashing my head will crush my equivalent of a brain, which will kill me!"

"That's right, Vitaz-sama isn't a zom..." Hana stopped speaking once she noticed something about Aki.

She glared at Aki and crossed her arms after she realized it. "Zombies are more likely to be real than a Kamen Rider?" Hana asked her friend.

Aki avoided eye contact and tried to answer her friend's question but couldn't think up of a good reason, especially since a real Kamen Rider was in plain sight. An argument was imminent from the two friends.

"Mind not arguing about the existence of fictional beings when I am in need of help?" Yukio said stopping a potential argument that would hinder his chances of getting his body back.

Hana and Aki forgot their possible argument and hurried to deal with Yukio's current problem.

"Is one of us going to have to fix your body, Vitaz-sama?" Hana asked. "Because I know nothing about engineering or whatever other skills are needed to fix a android."

"Neither do I," Aki added.

"That doesn't matter," Yukio told them. "I was originally built as an experimental robot capable of fixing any amount of damage done to the body, so long as the core remained untouched. Simply get my arms, shoulders, and the upper part of my chest and I'll do the rest."

The two girls nodded and hurried back to the pile of debris where the rest of Yukio's body laid buried under. They found Yukio's left arm in an hour and ten minutes later, they found his shoulders. The two girls were soon drenched in sweat but their work was done after they found Yukio's other arm and the upper half of his chest.

"Now place my body parts near me," Yukio told them.

They listened and laid his arms, shoulders, and part of his chest near his head. They gasped as tendrils of silver blood extended out of each body part. The tendrils grabbed the other tendrils and reattached the parts to the head. Yukio then used his arms to dig out the rest of his body, letting the girl's take a much needed rest. It took another hour for Yukio to find and reattach his body parts.

"This is the last body part," Yukio said watching silver tendrils reattach his left foot to his leg.

"How is your clothes still intact?" Hana noticed despite admitting in her head that she somewhat wanted to see the young man's naked body.

"My nano-machines repair these clothes anytime they're damaged," Yukio answered pulling on the fabric of his T-shirt. "But enough talking, I got to hurry and find Shiho..."

Yukio took a step forward but fell to the ground after his legs lost their strength. He knew the problem was that he repaired his body too quickly. His body needed time to readjust itself every time he reattached or repaired a body part. He needed at least twelve hours to complete the repairs but he didn't have that much time. He made a promise to save the two girl's friend from the Virus infecting her.

"It is so satisfying seeing you like this, Yukio," Yukino said.

Yukio and the two girls looked towards the entrance to the building and saw the same woman that appeared last night to save the Spider Virus. Yukino spun her floral-patterned umbrella on her shoulder as she walked on wooden sandals towards Yukio. The young woman chuckled at the sight of the fallen Yukio.

Yukio took out his undamaged smartphone from his pocket.

"No need for transform," Yukino told him. "You of all people should know how much I abhor violence. Too much unneeded dirt gets on my clothes and I can only imagine the pain it'll take me to wash the blood out. I wish my nano-machines could clean my clothes too..."

"Get to the point, Yukino," Yukio interrupted.

"Oh, I would if only I can remember," Yukino said tapping her chin.

"Tell us where our friend is!" Aki demanded.

"We know you're responsible for turning Shiho into that beast," Hana added. "Give us her location or else Vitaz-sama will beat it out of you."

Hana's threat made Yukino burst out laughing. Somehow, Yukino's laughter gave the two girls an unsettling feeling of dread.

"Fine, I'll let you find your friend," Yukino said snapping her finger.

Yukio felt the signal of a Virus coming from underground a few miles from where he stood. He slowly got back onto his feet and forced his body to work despite still needing time to repair itself. Both he and Yukino knew that he could stay at full strength for only a short amount of time.

"I'll succeed this time," Yukio told Hana and Aki. "I'll cure Shiho and bring her back."

"We believe in you so don't let us down," Aki told him.

"Come back as soon as you can with Shiho, Vitaz-sama," Hana said.

"I will," Yukio said. He took a look at Hana. "Also, Vitaz is my Kamen Rider name. My real name is Yukio Kikaido."

Yukino chuckled when she saw Yukio glaring at him. He wouldn't leave unless the two girls were safe from her. She knew it and decided to grant him that as well, disappearing in a gust of wind. Knowing that Hana and Aki was safe from her, Yukio hurried towards the signal of the Virus.

...

Yukio followed the signal of the Virus to an underground subway tunnel. The tunnel didn't have much light, forcing Yukio to walk alongside the wall. His artificial eyes had the ability to use infrared but his weakened body needed to save as much energy as possible in order to fight the Bat Virus. He continued walking alongside the wall until the young man heard sobbing from farther into the tunnel. He ran towards the sobbing to find Shiho sitting on the dirt floor, hugging her legs and wiping her tears with the sleeves of her torn sweater.

"I'm so sorry this is happening to you, Shiho," Yukio said taking a step towards the sobbing girl.

"I still can't sleep," Shiho cried. "Everything is just so tiring. My studies, my family's expectations, and everything else just tires me out. Now sunlight burns my eyes, my ears hear everything, and those evil androids turn me into a monster against my will. It's just so tiring. All I want is to fall asleep."

"Shiho, I can help you," Yukio told her.

"Help me?" she repeated.

"Yes, just let-"

Shiho jumped at Yukio, grabbing his by the collar. Yukio got a look at the changed Shiho, seeing her milky white eyes and long pointy ears that belonged to a bat. Fangs protruded out of her mouth and Shiho had an overall feral expression.

"The nano-machines already mutated your DNA this much?" Yukio whispered.

"If you want to help me, then put me out of my misery!" Shiho screamed at Yukio. "I'm going to turn back into that monster at any moment. Those androids will force me to hurt people and I won't be able to stop myself. Life isn't worth living if I have to continue on like this..."

_"Don't ever think life isn't worth living, Yukio. Life can be beautiful if you choose to keep walking forward..."_

The voice of an important woman from Yukio's past filled his mind after he heard Shiho's desire for him to put her out of her misery.

"I won't kill you, Shiho," Yukio said.

"Useless piece of junk!" Shiho screamed pushing Yukio away.

Yukio fell back because of Shiho's push but he didn't fall to the ground. Instead, Yukio fell on a sticky surface that felt very familiar.

He quickly realized that he fell on a spider's web.

" I'll have my revenge now!" the Spider Virus yelled from above Yukio.

Yukio tried to free his arms from the web but it stuck to his skin no matter how much strength he used. He tore the web apart so easily last night but he figured out that his weakened body at the moment could not free him. He had to watch as the Spider Virus fell from the ceiling of the tunnel and land in front of him. The monster's six eyes glared at him with noticeable anger.

"Here's for kicking a hole in me yesterday!" the monster yelled punching Yukio in the gut.

The Spider Virus released a clicking cackle after seeing Yukio grit his teeth from the pain his nano-machines sent to his brain. The pain warned him not to sustain anymore injuries but it was getting harder and harder with each passing moment. The Virus didn't waste time as he punched Yukio with all six arms of his.

"Enough fun," the Spider Virus laughed staring at the beaten Yukio bleeding silver blood filled with his nano-machines that couldn't fix his body fast enough. "Time to follow Miss Yukino's orders and shut this android down."

The Spider Virus clenched all six of its fists and aimed each fist at Yukio's head. "Die, Kamen Rider Vitaz!"

"No!" Shiho screamed.

Shiho grabbed the Spider Virus' hairy back and using the strength her nano-machines gave her, the tired girl lifted the monster off the floor. Shiho held the flailing and furious Spider Virus over her head until she threw the monster as far away as she could from them.

The tired girl turned her head back to the trapped Yukio. "I'm sorry for calling you a piece of junk," she apologized. "It's just that I can't think straight right now."

"That's alright," Yukio told her. "Just help me get my arm out."

Shiho nodded and looked at her right hand. She had some control over the nano-machines and forced the machines in her blood to mutate her hand faster. She winced as claws made out of her bones came sliding out from underneath her nails. Shiho used her claws to slash apart the webs trapping Yukio.

"Thank you, Shiho," the young man said taking out his smartphone.

Shiho gave the android a smile but the smile quickly turned around as she felt the nano-machines in her blood go into overdrive.

**"Bat Virus Corruption Start..."**

"Don't worry, Shiho," Yukio said using his thumb to turn his phone on. "I'll show you..."

Yukio tapped a icon on his phone, causing the female's voice to announce his choice.

**"Executing Driver App!"**

Yukio's metal belt appeared around his waist. Not wasting anytime, the young man placed his smartphone into the empty slot of the belt. The icons on the screen started to shake and the phone began to emit electricity. Yukio stretched out his free arm.

"That life is worth living!"

Shiho smiled after hearing Yukio's words but her smile disappeared as she was forcefully transformed back into the Bat Virus in front of the young man. Yukio kept his calm despite having just watched the girl turn into a monster for a second time.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"** Yukio's phone announced.

"Henshin!" Yukio yelled swiping the wheel of icons on his phone's screen.

A wheel of electricity came out of his belt and spun around the android in a perfect orb, incinerating the Spider Virus' webs. Blasts of electricity struck Yukio, equipping his body with parts of the Vitaz suit. Golden circuits formed over the silver suit's fabric as one last blast formed the helmet with insect eyes over the young man's head. The transformation ended with Yukio tossing aside his silver and gold scarf, creating a powerful gust of wind that blew the Bat Virus away from him.

"I got ten minutes and one Overcharge attack in this form," Yukio warned himself. "Got to make it count!"

Thanks to the electricity coursing through his circuits, Yukio gave off enough light to brighten the tunnel enough to find his opponent. The Bat Virus screeched at the fully transformed Yukio but the android ignored her cries and punched the Virus in the side, sending a powerful burst of electricity into the body. Yukio's punch made the Virus screech again but this time because of the pain it felt.

"Don't ignore me!" the Spider Virus yelled interrupting the fight.

The Spider Virus spat out ropes and ropes of webbing, creating a maze of webs in the subway tunnel that trapped Yukio. With its webs in place, the Spider Virus charged at Yukio while the Bat Virus took flight inside the tunnel. The Spider Virus punched Yukio on the ground and the Bat Virus swooped down on him, using her sound radar to avoid the webs, to slash at him with her claws. Every strike the two Viruses got on Yukio caused a shower of sparks to spray out of his circuits where they struck him.

"Miss Yukino informed us that you'll be too weak to fight," the Spider Virus told Yukio. "We know you can only use that Overcharge attack one more time before you run out of power and turn back to normal."

Yukio tapped an icon on his phone's screen, making the smartphone announce his choice.

**"Executing Sword App!"**

From within the electricity, Yukio pulled out a silver short sword without a guard. Golden circuits ran up the sword from the bottom of the handle to the tip of the blade. The young man took the short sword and used it to parry the Bat Virus' claw attack. The Spider Virus, however, took advantage of his focus on parrying the other Virus' attacks and punched Yukio with all six of his fists.

"You can't defeat the both of us!" the Spider Virus cackled punching the man in the side with his three left arms. "Defeat one of us with an Overcharge attack and the other will kill you! You don't have the energy to defeat us both! So, what will you do? Save your Bat Virus girlfriend and let me kill you? Or defeat me and let your girlfriend kill you? No matter which choice you pick, you die!"

The Spider Virus cackled louder at the android. It and the Bat Virus struck Yukio over and over, making the monstrous spider cackle louder.

The Spider Virus jumped onto his webs and used them to attack Yukio with faster punches. It knew that Yukio was starting to run out of energy and decided to finish him off by climbing his webs to the ceiling right above the young man. He waited for the moment Yukio parried another attack from the Bat virus before he leapt down at the young man.

The monster gave one last laugh as he fell. "Time to d-"

**"Executing Overcharge App!"**

"What!?" the Spider Virus yelled.

Electricity exploded out of Yukio's suit and traveled through the circuits in his suit to gather inside his short sword. The android turned his eyes up to see the Spider Virus falling towards him. Arcs of electricity swirled around the short sword as Yukio swung his blade upwards. The tip of Yukio's sword pierced the chest of the Spider Virus. The monster screamed as it was impaled through the chest with the electric-charged sword. Its screaming continued until the electricity coursing into its body forced the monster's nano-machines to turn it back into a uninjured human. The energy released by forcefully healing and reverting the Virus back into a human caused the monster to explode.

Yukio caught the young man who used to be infected with the Spider Virus and gave his body a harmless shock, rendering the nano-machines in his blood useless. After curing the young man of his Virus, he tossed him into a spider web near the ceiling so he would be safe from both the subway trains and the fight.

"I got one minute left and no Overcharge," Yukio said starting to lose strength in his arms and legs. "How can I defeat this Virus without an Overcharge?"

The Bat Virus screeched as the roar of a subway train echoed from farther down the tunnel. Hearing the subway train coming towards them, Yukio got an idea.

The young man sprinted down the tunnel until he saw the bright lights coming from the front of the train. Yukio tapped the icon of a magnet on his phone's screen.

**"Executing Magnetism App!"**

Yukio jumped on top of the passing subway train as the electricity coming out of his feet allowed him to stick to the metal surface. The android tightened his grip on his short sword, waiting for the moment that the train came close to the Bat Virus. He had to make this plan work because he had twenty seconds left before his transformation would undo itself.

"Rider Slash!" Yukio yelled swinging his sword once the train came close to the Bat Virus.

The Bat Virus flew backwards, dodging Yukio's slash. The Bat Virus made a noise that sounded like laughter as she watched the young man ride the subway train out of sight. Yukino's orders were to kill Yukio so the Bat Virus flew after the subway train with the intent to murder the weakened android.

What the Virus didn't notice, however, was that there was a second subway train coming towards her. A subway train that had Yukio on top of it. The Bat Virus screeched in a panic as Yukio deactivated his Magnetism App and jumped off the train, swinging at the Virus the short sword that held the rest of his electricity.

"This is the real deal!" Yukio yelled. "Electric Rider Slash!"

Yukio's short sword slashed the Bat Virus in half horizontally. Her nano-machines were forcefully made by Yukio's electricity to turn Shiho back to normal with no injuries or mutations. The release of energy caused an explosion in the tunnel but Yukio came out of it with Shiho in his arms. He didn't waste anytime to give the rescued Shiho a harmless shock that rendered the nano-machines in her blood useless.

Vitaz's transformation undid itself in a flash of light and electricity, leaving Yukio in the dark tunnel with the sleeping Shiho in her arms.

The young man looked at the Shiho's face as she slept.

"I wonder what you're dreaming about, Shiho-san?" Yukio said smiling.

He chuckled. "Never mind, I'm sure it's a good dream..."

...

"I remember this guy! He's the one who tried to hit on me and my friends in the club before I was attacked by that monster!" Hana yelled looking at the picture of the man infected with the Spider Virus.

"He helped Shiho walk that day the monster attacked the girl's dorm," Aki remembered after staring at the picture for a minute. "I think his name is Atsushi. I always remember him hitting on girls and being rejected. He tried to ask me out one day too."

Hana and Aki turned their attention back to their friend Shiho. Despite being able to sleep now, Shiho still needed to go to the hospital for severe sleep deprivation but she felt better than she ever felt before. She was no longer trying to fall asleep when someone tried to talk to her. Hana and Aki even noticed how much more their friend smiled after leaving the hospital. Something about their friend changed after they met the Kamen Rider.

"Did you see Yukio-sama lately?" Hana asked Shiho, who happily drank a strawberry smoothie.

Shiho didn't answer her friend until she finished her smoothie. "He visited me once when I was in the hospital but I haven't seen him once since," she answered before shaking her cup in the air. "Waitress! Can I have another strawberry smoothie?"

"Wow, I almost forgot this side of Shiho's personality," Aki said watching her friend drink another smoothie with a smile on her face.

Hana smiled with her friends. "I'm glad you're back, Shiho," Hana said wiping her eyes. "We have to find Yukio-sama and thank him!"

Shiho took a look out of the cafe's window. "Yeah, we should go out and look for..."

Shiho stopped speaking once she saw Yukio outside the window, sitting down on the sidewalk holding up a sign saying 'I'm an android capable of transforming into Kamen Rider Vitaz and I am in need of a place to stay. I have been forced to spend my nights in the park, evading the policemen that patrol at night and scaring small animals with the electricity that naturally comes out of my body. Please allow me to stay at your place until I defeat the forces that create the Virus monsters'.

Shiho, Aki, and Hana stared wide-eyed at the dirty Yukio with their mouths open.

Shiho hurried out of the cafe and ran to Yukio's side. While she wanted to help him up to his feet, she stepped back and pinched her nose because of the strong stench that came off him.

"What the hell is that smell?" Shiho coughed.

"I jumped into the sewers last night," Yukio answered looking up at the young woman.

"Why?" Shiho asked.

"Thought I could rest there but I underestimated the smell," Yukio told her.

Shiho grabbed Yukio's sign and pulled it out of his hand. "This sign is too long, not to mention how ridiculous it sounds," Shiho said slapping his head with his own sign. "Why didn't you come to me if you needed a place to stay? My friends and I wanted to thank you for saving me but we couldn't find you."

Shiho ignored the smell and grabbed Yukio's arm. The android stared at her while the girl pulled him up to his feet.

"Come on," she said leading him down the sidewalk. "I know a guy who owes me. He'll give you a place to stay if I ask him."

Yukio stared at her for a while but smiled once he noticed the kindness Shiho had in her eyes while she pulled on his arm. He only saw that kind of kindness from one other person in his life. His mind remembered the image of a middle-aged woman with graying black hair who wore a pink cherry blossom themed lab coat. He thought of his very first memory from when he was activated. He remembered standing inside of his pod until he opened his eyes, seeing the woman holding a chocolate cake with one lit candle sticking out of the middle. Despite having just been born, Yukio could see how much the woman loved him from the look in her kind eyes.

_"Happy Birthday, Yukio! My name's Yuki Kikaido but you can call me Mom!"_

"Mom..."

"Did you say something?" Shiho asked turning her head.

Yukio smiled at her. "It's nothing," he replied.

Shiho eyed him suspiciously but dismissed it. "Alright, let's get you to your new home," she said giving him a smile.

The young woman held the android's hand as she led him down the sidewalk, soon having her other friends join her. Watching the four walk away from atop a nearby building was Yukino and Yukiteru. Yukino may have looked calm on the outside but on the inside, she was furious that Yukio had defeated two of her Viruses. Yukiteru and three figures hiding in the shadows watched as Yukino snapped her umbrella in two.

"You got lucky, Yukio..." Yukino whispered incinerating her broken umbrella until it turned into ash. Yukino spun around and walked towards her siblings. "Our little brother..."

...

**End of 'I'm Alive'**


	3. Episode 3: Asking For A Favor

"Detective Iga, drop all of your cases," a man in his late forties said staring at passing cars outside his office window.

Seiji Iga, a man in his mid-twenties, scratched his ear after hearing his boss tell him to drop his cases. He readjusted his multicolored tie while he spoke.

"I don't understand, chief," he said continuing to scratch his ear. "For what reason do I need to drop all my cases?"

His boss tossed his detective a folder. Seiji picked up the folder and opened it to find that it was full of pictures of the same man. He studied the pictures to find that the young man had golden circuit-like veins that could be seen if one looked close enough. He also noticed something very interesting about the young man in every one of the pictures in the folder.

"How bad is this guy's luck?" Seiji said holding back a laugh.

Every single one of the pictures were of the young man either being humiliated or about to have a very painful experience. Pictures of the young man were of him being chased by a pack of wild dogs, trapped in a sewer, or of him staring wide-eyed at a creepy clown handing him a balloon. Not one of the pictures were a normal shot of his face and every single one was taken off the internet from random people who saw him and took a picture. He couldn't blame them. Seiji would have done the same thing if he saw this young man in any one of the situations shown in the photos.

"The order is to find this kid and report everything he does to the number on this phone," his boss said handing his detective a disposable phone. "I tried to get information on who this kid is but all I got is some false story about how he's an escaped mental patient with violent tendencies. Anyone looking at these photos would know for a fact that he's no danger to anyone but himself."

"This sounds very suspicious," Seiji said.

"It is suspicious," the chief said. "Someone very powerful wants this kid back for some unknown reason."

"If that's who I'll be helping, then I have no reason to go through with this case, chief," Seiji said. "The one giving this order may be the boss of a Yakuza gang or some corrupt organization. I have no interest in helping out some criminal."

"Don't think of it as helping out a criminal, detective Iga," his boss said picking up a bottle of sake off his file cabinet. He tipped back one cup of the drink before continuing. "Follow him around and find out why someone with this much connections and money would want him. If he's dangerous, make up a lie. If he's not, then still make up a lie."

Seiji smiled. "Okay, I get it, chief..."

"I'll do my best to find out this guy's secrets."

...

Shiho and Aki unfortunately had to go back to their classes and had to leave Yukio behind with their friend Hana. After changing Yukio out of his sewer-smelling clothes into a blue T-shirt and shorts, the two girls told Hana where to bring the young man. Hana, however, had different plans for the android. She would bring Yukio to the place her friends wanted her to bring him to but only after she took advantage of the fact that Yukio was a lot stronger than the average male human.

"These clothes are cute too," Hana said throwing another set of clothing on top of the growing pile of clothes Yukio held in his arms. Hana then picked up a pink blouse and held it over her chest. "Do you think this blouse would look good on me?"

"I am incapable of seeing past the mass of fabrics that you are forcing me to hold," Yukio answered.

"I'm not forcing you, Yukio-sama," Hana said tossing the blouse on top of the pile Yukio held. "This is simply how normal males must act around us beautiful females."

"If this is how normal male humans act, then I must comply," Yukio said completely believing Hana's answer.

Hana felt bad for a second about exploiting Yukio's innocence but quickly forgot about it when she found a pair of high heels that she found to look incredible on her. The shopping spree continued until Yukio was holding a mountain of clothing and shoes that caught the eyes of everybody walking past. Even the female cashier couldn't pry her eyes away from it while Hana took out a shiny credit card from within her purse.

"And have it all delivered to this address," Hana said writing down her address.

"Thank you for your purchase," the cashier said still staring at Yukio and wondering how he was able to carry everything Hana bought.

Yukio and Hana soon left the store and walked around the mall until the girl decided to buy something to eat. While the young man and woman sat at a table for two at the food court with her eating a large salad, Hana noticed that Yukio wasn't eating anything.

"Do you want me to buy you something to eat?" Hana said taking out the credit card she used to buy her clothes. She then remembered that Yukio was an android. "Or are you incapable of eating?"

"I usually get my energy by sticking a metal fork into an electrical socket I find at coffee shops or the like," Yukio answered. "But I found that freaks out a couple of people to see a young man sticking a metallic object into an electrical socket. Not to mention how I could have possibly short-circuited the whole electrical wiring of the place."

"I kind of understand how they feel," Hana said imagining a group of shocked people staring at Yukio as he stuck a metal fork into an outlet. "But you didn't tell me if you could eat."

Yukio smiled at Hana. "I prefer eating over getting my energy from electrical sources," he told her.

Hana gave Yukio her credit card. "Then get whatever you want," Hana told him smiling. "My treat."

Yukio gave Hana an expression that she only saw children make. He took her credit card but didn't go to any of the restaurants or stands around them. Instead, she saw him come out of a candy store with bags of sweets. He even went into a bakery shop to buy a whole chocolate cake. By the time he was done and sat down with Hana, he had over a hundred different sweets, a chocolate cake, and several bottles of soda. After giving Hana her credit card back, Yukio began to devour the sweets. Hana watched her hero stuff his mouth with pounds of candies and sugar and noticed that she started to drool watching him.

"Isn't your stomach going to burst eating all that?" Hana asked wiping the drool off the corner of her mouth.

"My stomach isn't like a human's," Yukio answered sinking his teeth into a Manju. "My nano-machines digest the food and turn it into energy for me to use much faster than a human's digestion system. I still have to expel the waste like humans though..."

"Too much information!" Hana said plugging her ears.

Hana then noticed that Yukio had bought a bar of chocolate with almonds, her favorite kind. She was sure the young man wouldn't mind if she took the bar. Hana did buy all the sweets with her own, or rather her father's, money. One chocolate bar wouldn't hurt her diet but the young woman fought with her desires while her hand inched towards the chocolate bar. She was correct that Yukio didn't object to her taking one of his chocolate bars but something else got in the way of Hana satisfying her chocolate cravings.

Screams of men and women echoed throughout the mall the moment Hana tore the wrapper off. The screams surprised Hana enough to make her tear off the wrapper too fast, sending the chocolate flying until it landed on the floor and got stepped on by scared men and women fleeing from an unknown entity. The college girl stared at the smashed chocolate bar on the floor, looking as if she were ready to cry.

Hana, however, didn't have the time to be disappointed as Yukio jumped out of his chair to run towards the screaming. The college girl ran after the young man, leaving behind a empty table full of sweets and a lonely bowl of salad. Their table soon got another pair to sit in its chairs, the two being Yukio's brother and sister, Yukiteru and Yukino.

"Yukio still loves sweets," Yukiteru said staring at the pile of sweets in front of him.

"Spicy food is more to my liking," Yukino said hiding the bottom half of her face with a paper fan. "Besides, we aren't here to see whether or not Yukio still eats sugar. We're here to see if my new Virus is a match for that Vitaz power of his."

"I stand behind my suggestion that you should let me use one of my Knowledge Viruses instead of another one of your Animal or Bug Viruses," Yukiteru said straightening one of his pins. "All your Viruses do is wreck destruction to their surroundings or focus on one single emotion. My Knowledge Viruses could do much better than that."

"Key word being could," Yukino pointed out. "So how about shutting the hell up and watch how this Virus turns out? You might actually learn something useful..."

Yukiteru chose to remain silent but he disappeared to watch the fight from a better spot. Yukino was about to join him but noticed something strange about one of the sweets that Yukio had bought. Her eyes focused on the chocolate cake her little brother had cut into six evenly-sized slices. There were six slices but only one slice of the chocolate cake was taken. The other five slices of cake remained untouched. Yukino didn't understand why she did what she did but the young woman incinerated the whole table of sweets and one bowl of salad with a pillar of flame. The five slices of chocolate cake melted into bubbling chocolate mixed with the other molten sweets.

Yukino came back to her senses and hurried to disappear, leaving behind the puddle of molten sweets.

...

Yukio and Hana found the source of screaming as they saw a group of ten children surrounded by six humanoid androids. None of the six androids wore clothes, revealing their silver metal bodies for all to see. Their heads were metal skulls that had cameras for eyes and no mouth where there should be one. The androids made grinding noises from within their bodies as they moved closer to the children, lifting their claw-like hands to grab them.

"That's right, round up every single brat you find! Make sure none of those demon-spawns get away!"

The one ordering the androids was a huge humanoid grasshopper that stood on its grasshopper legs next to the mall's massive fountain. Razor sharp blades extended out of the monster's elbows, shoulders, and back. The Grasshopper Virus made use of his blades to scare the parents of the trapped children, who were being prevented from rescuing their children by a unmovable line of the same androids. The Virus laughed as he watched one of the parents strike one of the androids with a metal bat. Even being struck in the head by a metal bat didn't force the android to move from where it stood.

One young man, however, ignored the line of androids and simply leaped over their heads. The parents stopped fighting to get past the androids, instead moving their focus to the young man that jumped over their heads. Even the children stopped screaming and turned their eyes to the young man.

"Release those children," Yukio ordered pointing at the Grasshopper Virus.

The monster laughed at Yukio's order. "The Mistress warned me about you, Vitaz," the Virus chuckled. "Don't worry about what I'll do to these children. They'll be safe and go back to their parents after I'm done teaching them manners. I'll even spare everyone else in this mall if you let me leave with them. Do we have a deal? "

The parents of the children yelled in anger after hearing the Virus' deal but were silenced when Yukio took out his smartphone.

"The answer is no," Yukio told the monster as he swiped his finger across the phone's screen, turning it on and making a wheel of icons appear. The young man tapped the icon of a belt, causing his phone to announce his choice.

**"Executing Driver App!"**

The kids had their mouths open when they saw the metal belt appear around Yukio's waist. They watched the young man placed his smartphone into the empty slot of his belt. Yukio had the children's complete attention as he threw his arms up into the air.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"** his phone announced.

"Henshin!" Yukio yelled swinging his hands down to swipe the phone's screen, making the wheel of icons on it spin.

The children and their parents watched in awe as a wheel of electricity came out of Yukio's belt. The wheel spun around Yukio in a perfect orb, blasting him with bursts of electricity that equipped his body with the silver Vitaz suit. Golden circuits formed in the fabric of the silver suit as one last blast of electricity formed the helmet with insect eyes over his head. Yukio's transformation ended with the young man tossing aside his silver and gold scarf, creating a powerful gust of wind that almost blasted the people around him off their feet.

Yukio pointed at the Grasshopper Virus. "I'll show you..."

"The power of Kamen Rider Vitaz!"

The children screamed again but this time out of excitement at the appearance of a hero that resembled the superheroes they seen on TV. The androids stopped their advance on the children and turned to face the young man. The androids holding back the parents also spun around to face Yukio.

"Sad to hear your choice," the Grasshopper Virus laughed. "Guess you have to die then!"

The Virus snapped his fingers and the android he controlled charged at Yukio. The first android to reach the young man tried to punch his face but Yukio slapped its fist aside and smashed his own fist into the android's chest, sending it crashing into a photo booth. The next android that tried to hit Yukio got its arm ripped out of its socket and both of its knees crushed. The children cheered on Yukio as he continued to turn the androids into scrap metal.

"What are you doing? Get your children and run away!" Hana told the group of parents who were watching Yukio tear apart the androids with their children.

The parents came to their senses and ran to pick up their children. The kids yelled in disappointment as their parents forced them to leave the area.

"Thanks for getting them out of the way, Hana," Yukio said punching off the head of the last android.

"You're welcome, Vitaz-sama!" Hana yelled back jumping up and down out of excitement of seeing a Kamen Rider again.

Yukio turned his attention back to the Virus. "It's your turn, Virus!" he yelled charging towards the monster.

While the Grasshopper Virus and Yukio exchanged blows, one more person joined the audience that watched the fight. Detective Seiji Iga hid behind a recycling bin one floor above the fight and took a picture of Yukio with his camera every few seconds. He watched the fight through an iron-wrought fence that prevented people from jumping but even with the fence protecting him, he still felt unsafe where he hid. The fight between Yukio and the Grasshopper Virus felt like it could involve him somehow.

"This is crazy," he said to himself smiling nervously. "That kid I'm suppose to watch is some kind of superhero? Does that mean this case might really have come from some evil organization out to conquer the world?"

**"Executing Gun App!"**

Seiji watched as his target somehow conjured a firearm out of thin air. Using the gun, Yukio fired several bullets of electricity at the Virus. Two of his bullets struck the insect, sending a shock to his nerves that slowed down its reflexes. While it was stunned, Yukio ran up to the monster and placed the barrel of his gun against its dark green exoskeleton. The Grasshopper Virus screamed in pain as Yukio rapidly fired bullets of electricity directly into its body. The bullets kept firing until the Virus swung its elbow blades at Yukio, forcing him to jump back to dodge.

"I can't move..." the Virus moaned trying to move its recently electrocuted body.

"Ready to charge!" Yukio yelled tapping an icon on the screen of his phone.

**"Executing Overcharge App!"**

Electricity exploded out of his silver suit and traveled through the golden circuits to gather inside the barrel of his gun. Yukio aimed the barrel of his gun at the stunned Grasshopper Virus. He then braced himself for the immense recoil his attack would bring.

"Lightning Rider Shoot!" Yukio yelled.

Before Yukio could press the trigger to fire his bolt of lightning, his sister appeared and grabbed the Virus she created. She then disappeared just as quickly with her Virus in a blast of flames. The electricity built up in Yukio's gun dissipated and the young man tossed his gun aside. Yukio pulled his smartphone out his metal belt, which undid his transformation in a flash of light and electricity.

Yukio stared at the flaming circle his sister left behind.

"What the hell are these things, Yukio-sama?" Hana said poking the head of an android that Yukio had punched off.

Yukio turned to Hana. "They're called Incompletes," he answered. "They're androids like me but they aren't alive or have any special abilities other than complete loyalty to their programming. Sometimes, the Virus likes to use these to further along its own goal."

"So they're just machines," Hana said feeling a shiver run down her back when she stared into the androids camera eyes.

"Yeah," Yukio said looking around for anything suspicious. "Someone very important to me prevented the creator of these things from turning them into living androids like myself."

Hana looked at Yukio and noticed that the sad expression he had. Seeing that expression of his made Hana curious about where her hero came from. Who built Yukio and for what purpose?

Her curiosity, however, ended when the college girl remembered what Shiho wanted her to do. "Damn it! I forgot!" Hana cried.

She hurried to grab Yukio's hand and forcefully took the confused android with her as she ran out of the mall.

"Now that was weird," Seiji said coming out of his hiding spot.

The detective was still shocked to see a beautiful woman suddenly appear only to disappear a second later with the monster but he quickly came back to his senses after he saw his target be taken away by that woman.

Detective Seiji Iga hurried to follow after the strange man.

...

"Shiho is going to be so mad at me," Hana worried. "I can deal with Aki being mad at me but not Shiho. Shiho is so scary when she's mad!"

Yukio didn't quite understand what Hana was worrying about but the young man still followed behind her as she led the way to the location Shiho gave her. Neither the android nor Hana noticed Seiji following them from behind, moving from one hiding place to the next. The detective wondered where the two were going but he instantly stopped wondering the moment he heard the voice of an angel from behind his back.

"Seiji-san, what are you doing here?" Shiho asked.

The detective spun around to see the woman he fell in love with standing behind him. He suddenly found himself unable to turn his attention back to his target because of the raven-haired beauty in front of him. Ever since Shiho saved him from missing the detective exam because he overslept, he decided that this beautiful young woman would be his future wife. She would live with him in one of those traditional Japanese houses and they would have four kids running around the house but they wouldn't get in the way of them making...

Aki, the woman he most detested, snapped the detective out of his fantasy with one well-placed slap to his face.

"Stop fantasizing!" Aki yelled looking down on the fallen detective.

"You shouldn't slap Seiji-san every time we meet him, Aki," Shiho said helping the detective get back on his feet. "It's very rude and not to mention illegal since Seiji-san is an officer of the law."

"You would slap him too if you could see how he looks at you," Aki told her friend. "Besides, he'll do anything you tell him to. If his precious Shiho tells him to drop the charges, I can do whatever I want to him."

"Don't mind Aki, Seiji-san," Shiho said checking his reddening cheek.

Seiji was about to smile because Shiho was touching his cheek but his smile instantly disappeared the moment he felt bloodlust coming from her friend.

"This is good timing, Seiji-san!" Shiho said smiling. "I actually got a favor to ask you..."

"Anything for you, Shiho-chan," Seiji said ecstatic to see her smile.

Shiho was about to tell the detective what she wanted but stopped the moment her eyes caught a glimpse of Yukio and Hana in the distance. Her friend looked like she was panicking as she pulled the confused Yukio with her. Shiho thought this was amazingly great luck to find both Seiji and Yukio so close together but the detective wouldn't think of it as good luck when he saw the woman of his dreams run to the young man that he was told to follow. Aki noticed and grinned at the shocked expression on the detectives face as Shiho brought a confused Yukio and the nervous Hana to him.

"Seiji-san, I don't think I ever introduced you to my friend Hana," Shiho said pointing at a nail-chewing Hana.

Seiji, however, was too focused on the young man to notice Shiho introducing him to her other friend.

"And this is my new friend," Shiho said pushing Yukio closer to the detective.

"Hello, my name is Yukio Kikaido," Yukio said shaking the detective's hand.

"I gave Seiji-san my bicycle when he overslept and almost missed his detective exam, " Shiho told her friends. "So he sort of owes me a favor."

"I'll do anything you ask for, Shiho-chan," Seiji said still shaking Yukio's hand.

Seiji forcefully made himself smile but he couldn't stop his left eye from twitching while he shook the young man's hand. His mind couldn't move from the fact that not only is his beloved Shiho friends with another man but that the young man is the same person he was asked to follow.

"The favor I'm asking for is actually for Yukio," Shiho said. "You see, he needs a place to stay while he's in the city. So what I'm asking..."

Shiho bowed to the detective. "Can Yukio stay at your place, Seiji-san?"

_To be Continued_


	4. Episode 4: Asking For A Favor part 2

"How dare you be so weak!" Yukino screamed beating her Virus. "You should have been strong enough to defeat Vitaz but my brother beat you up so easily! Do not ever humiliate me like that again!"

Yukino threw the Grasshopper Virus across the warehouse. The monster flew through the air until it crashed into stacks of discarded steel drums. Burns and bruises covered its whole exoskeleton as it moaned in pain. It tried to get back to its feet but the monster fell each time. Despite being in so much pain, Yukino continued to hurl fireballs at her Virus. The monster screamed every time it was struck by one of the female android's fireballs.

"It's against the rules to kill your own Virus," Yukiteru told his sister from his seat on top of a pyramid of rusty steel beams. "I'd advise against continuing this senseless beating of your own Virus or else you'll be punished."

Yukino ignored her brother's warning and continued to hurl fireballs at her Virus. The screams of the Virus being burned alive filled the abandoned warehouse. By the time his sister calmed down enough to stop burning her Virus, the monster was left a charred black insect twitching on the dirt floor.

"How do you expect to defeat our brother with a burnt insect?" Yukiteru asked.

"Shut up!" His sister screamed.

Yukino threw a fireball at her brother but the male android blocked it with his right arm. The fireball exploded on contact with Yukiteru's arm and when the smoke cleared, Yukino saw her brother's arm had turned completely into water with burnt scales that protected him from the explosion.

"Honestly, you try to look graceful but you have the worst temper among us," Yukiteru said turning his arm back to normal.

Yukino screamed again, releasing a wave of heat so powerful that everything around her started to melt. The heat enveloped Yukino, incinerating her clothing and turning her body into a red hot form made out of lava. Yukiteru hurried to save his sister's Virus before it got destroyed by Yukino's transformation. The male android ran out of the warehouse and watched from outside as it collapsed and melted from the heat Yukino radiated.

"So this is the power of the Fire Virus," Yukiteru said looking in awe of the power his sister possessed.

His attention turned back to the charred Virus he saved from being killed. It was still alive but he was sure it couldn't fight Yukio without help.

Yukiteru took out a syringe from within his jacket.

"Let's hope you survive having two Viruses injected into your body..."

...

It's been three days since Yukio moved into Seiji's two-room apartment and already the detective noticed several strange things about the young man. For one, he found out that Yukio did not sleep. Not once did Seiji see the young man close his eyes. Even in the middle of the night, he was wide awake on his black leather couch, watching a comedy show on his television. Second, Seiji noticed that Yukio had a smartphone that didn't resemble any of the models he found in the stores. He once asked him if he could see it but the young man refused to let him see the smartphone. Third, he found out about his guest was that he stared at every single thing in his apartment as if it were the first time he saw it, despite knowing the name of the object and its function.

The strangest thing he found out about Yukio was that he was some kind of superhero that fought monsters. It was strange to see the young man who fought that humanoid grasshopper in the mall walking around his apartment, playing with the everyday things he had. He wondered how he transformed into that superhero and suspected it had something to do with his phone.

But there was one piece of information he needed to know about Yukio.

He wanted to know what Yukio's relationship with Shiho was.

More than ten times, Shiho came to his apartment to check on Yukio or to give him sweets and a slice of chocolate cake. One time she even asked Yukio if he would like to hang out with her and her other friends. She was too attached to the young man. He knew that the reason she was so attached to him was because she knew Yukio's secrets. If her friend Hana knew the young man is a superhero straight from a television show, then she definitely knew too.

"What are you thinking about so hard, Seiji-san?" Shiho asked.

Seiji was too focused on his thoughts to have noticed Shiho being let into his apartment by Yukio so when the woman he adored appeared in front of him, the detective let out a yell of surprise. Shiho, wearing a pink blouse and a skirt, stared at the heavily breathing detective with a puzzled expression.

Seiji thought up of an excuse in less than a second. "Just thinking about my current case," he said not noticing he was telling the truth until a moment after he answered.

"Must be a tough case if you're thinking this hard about it," Shiho said.

"Not really," Seiji said feeling his heart beat faster. "All I had to do is follow some suspicious guy and record his actions. I already know where he is and what he's doing so I'm allowed to relax a little in my apartment."

Seiji glanced over at Yukio, seeing the young man crying at some soap drama show on the detective's television. He did know exactly where his target was and exactly what he was doing.

"Listen, I'm sure Yukio has done some weird things since he started staying with you," Shiho said smiling. "But I'm really grateful you're letting him stay with you despite his quirks."

He wanted to throw Yukio out into the streets. His job and Shiho, however, were forcing him to let the strange man stay in his apartment.

"I'm the one who's suppose to be grateful," Seiji said. "If you didn't lend me your bike a year ago, I wouldn't be a detective now."

Shiho gave the detective a chuckle, which made Seiji blush a little.

Yukio, however, ruined the detective's good mood when the android changed the channel to the news and heard the current story.

"That man!" Yukio yelled pointing at the picture of male teen around the age of eighteen that appeared on the news. "That man came into contact with a Virus!"

"Virus? What's he talking about?" Seiji asked curious.

"It's nothing!" Shiho answered suddenly becoming nervous.

Seiji knew it had something to do with that superhero thing Yukio did but chose to remain silent as he watched Shiho run over to the young man.

"Don't talk about Viruses out loud," Shiho whispered to the android. "We can't let Seiji find out that you're a Kamen Rider or you might not have a place to live."

"I do not understand the concern," Yukio whispered back. "I have been telling people that I'm Kamen Rider Vitaz ever since I walked into this city."

Shiho took out a closed paper fan and slapped the young man's cheek with it. "It's that kind of inability to keep secrets that leads to huge problems in the future," she told Yukio. "Listen, all you have to do is be quiet about Kamen Riders or Viruses around Seiji."

Shiho turned her attention to the television. "So who's connected to the Virus?" she asked.

"A man named Masao Takana," Yukio answered. "He works at a theme park as the mascot. The woman on the television says he's been missing for over three days."

"Isn't three days ago when you and Hana found the Grasshopper Virus?" Shiho remembered. "Then he might actually be the Virus! This is a lead we can use to find the person infected with the Virus!"

Yukio gave the girl a puzzled stare. "A lead? I never thought about finding the infected person before they turned into a Virus," he said.

Shiho shook Yukio, excited about searching for the Virus. "Come on, Yukio-san, we have to follow this lead!"

Yukio nodded and the two ran out of the apartment, saying good-bye to the silent Seiji before they left. The detective waited a minute before he left the apartment to follow the two, both for his job and for his love.

...

The two arrived at the theme park that the person they thought to be the Virus worked at. Shiho smiled at the sight of a Yukio staring at the attractions in awe. For a minute, she considered having fun with the young man on the rides until she remembered that they had to search for more leads on Masao Takana. She held Yukio's hand as she led him to the first person who might give them some information.

The two found the small box-like building office where Shiho suspected the man in charge of the theme park worked. She knocked on the front door and pulled Yukio back to her side after he was distracted by the candied apples sold at a nearby stand. In less than three minutes, a short balding man wearing a tight suit opened the door. He stared at the two young adults through his thick glasses.

"What do you want?" he asked wiping his sweaty forehead with his sleeve.

"We're here to ask about Masao Takana for our article!" Shiho yelled. She lowered her voice before she continued talking. "Me and him are interns at a newspaper and we were asked to get some information on Masao Takana, who worked here part-time before he went missing."

The man studied Shiho from her feet to her head, staring a little longer on her waist and chest. He then looked at the smiling Yukio and frowned at the young man.

"I can spare five minutes," he said turning around.

Shiho gave Yukio an excited smile before following the middle-aged man into his office. Yukio stared at the messy office covered in over hundreds of files. File cabinets were lined up against opposite walls and one large desk in the middle of the room. There was also a closet to the left of the man's desk. Shiho sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk. Yukio sat down on the other chair after seeing his friend gesture him to sit down.

"So this is about Takana-san?" the man said sitting down in his chair.

"Yes, we would like to know about how he was acting before he disappeared," Shiho said knowing that the man's name was Ueno Otsushi from the framed plates hanging on the wall. She also found out that the man was staring at her lustfully so she purposefully showed off her body while she talked. "Like if he was acting unusual or if he was unhealthy in any way."

"Before he disappeared, Masao did cough a lot," Ueno answered not bothering to hide the fact that he was staring at Shiho's thighs. Shiho took advantage of his lust and purposefully crossed her legs, making her thighs look bigger. This act made the man continue talking. "And he started to get a little more angry at the children that come here. He would yell at them for the smallest annoyances."

"Yell at them?" Yukio asked.

"Yes, he would yell at the children if they were being a little rude or disobedient," he told Yukio sounding annoyed by the fact that the young man spoke. "To be honest, I was going to fire him before he went missing."

Yukio turned to Shiho and whispered. "That does sound like the personality that the Grasshopper Virus exhibited," he told her.

Shiho nodded and turned her eyes back to Ueno. "Do you have any idea where Masao might be?" she asked.

"I already told the police that I have no idea," he answered.

"I guess this is enough then," Shiho said standing up. "Thank you for your time."

Shiho shook his hand and tried her best not to look visually disgusted at his smile. After shaking his hand, Shiho took Yukio and hurried to get out of Ueno's office. Once the two left, Ueno turned his eyes to his left, where he saw Yukino come out of his closet. She glared at Ueno and snapped her fingers.

**"Grasshopper Virus Corruption Start..."**

Ueno gritted his teeth as black energy exploded out of his body and transformed him into a different Grasshopper Virus. The Virus' body had become bulkier and more blades stuck out of its body. Yukino also noticed that it looked more feral than it did before. She suspected her brother was behind it but she had no problem if it was stronger.

"How bad is my baby brother's luck?" Yukino wondered ignoring her Virus' new appearance. "To follow some guy who witnessed my Virus transform and actually find the real infected? Yukio must have the worst luck possible."

Yukino looked at her Virus again.

"I love that those infected with the Virus must do whatever we tell them," Yukino said smiling. She pointed at the exit. "Now hurry up and defeat Vitaz!"

Her monster roared and leaped upwards through the roof of its office.

...

"Can you believe how he looked at me?" Shiho said. "He didn't even once look me in the eyes!"

"Seiji-san has the same look in his eyes whenever you turn your back," Yukio told the college girl.

From his hiding place behind the candied apple stand, Seiji forced himself not to jump out of hiding and tackle Yukio before he said something dangerous about him. Instead he continued to listen in on the two's conversation.

"Seiji-san would never look at me like that," Shiho chuckled. "He probably thinks of me more as a little sister."

Seiji secretly cried from behind his hiding place while Yukio rechecked his memories. The two would have kept going on had they not heard Shiho's scream.

They looked at Shiho to see the college girl fighting with an Incomplete android. The android already had its hands on her wrists and was trying to take her away. She kicked the machine in its leg but all that accomplished was hurting her own legs.

"Let go of her!" Yukio yelled punching the android's face with his bare fist.

Seiji would have done the same thing but the young man was closer to Shiho, allowing Yukio to fight the android and letting him stay in hiding. He watched Yukio punch the android over and over, sending tiny bursts of electricity in the machine every time his fist punched it. The electricity he punched into the android caused it to short-circuit and fall to the ground. Shiho and Yukio stared at the android lying on the ground.

Shiho knew about the Incomplete androids from the story Hana told her but it still freaked her out to see it in front of her.

Yukio then felt the familiar feeling of his sensors picking up the signal of a Virus. "The Virus is nearby!" he yelled running towards the signal.

Shiho ran after the young man and Seiji followed.

The three only stopped when Yukio and Shiho found the Grasshopper Virus destroying the teacup ride with over a dozen torn apart Incomplete androids lying around it. The monster ripped the giant teacups out of the ride's floor and threw it across the park. The teacup flew through the air until it crashed into a rifle game stand. The Grasshopper Virus roared over the screaming and the blaring of a car's horn.

"What happened to the Virus?" Yukio said noticing the Virus' changed appearance.

"What's wrong, Yukio?" Shiho asked noticing his surprise.

"The Virus didn't look like this the last time we fought," Yukio answered. "It was a lot skinnier and didn't have as much blades coming out of its body."

The Grasshopper Virus roared again and leapt into the sky using its grasshopper-like legs. It fell back to the earth, taking out part of the roller-coaster ride on its way down. The monster yelled and took out more of the roller-coaster's support on the ground. The whole structure started to fall apart the more the Grasshopper Virus destroyed its framework.

"Yukio! The roller-coaster!" Shiho yelled pointing at the currently occupied roller-coaster cars about to ride down into the part of the structure destroyed by the Virus.

The men, women, and children riding on the roller-coaster cars tried to get out but they were trapped in their seats, forced to be the roller-coaster car that was about to ride off the rails. Yukio sprinted towards the roller-coaster ride, taking out his smartphone while he sprinted. The young man turned the phone on and pressed the belt icon the moment the wheel of icons appeared on the screen.

**"Executing Driver App!"** his phone announced.

A metal belt appeared around Yukio's waist in a flash of light. The young man hurried to place his smartphone into the empty slot on the belt. The phone began to emit electricity and the wheel of icons on the screen shook.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"**

"Henshin!" he yelled spinning the wheel of icons on his phone's screen.

A wheel of electricity blasted out of Yukio's belt. The wheel of electricity spun around the sprinting Yukio in a perfect orb, blasting parts of his body and equipping him with a shining silver suit. Golden circuits formed in the fabric of the suit as one last blast formed the Vitaz helmet over Yukio's head. The transformation ended without the fully-transformed Yukio tossing his scarf aside. Instead, the sprinting young man tapped the icon of a magnet on his phone.

"Executing Magnetism App!" his phone announced.

Yukio continued running until he reached the ride's framework. The powerful magnets in Yukio's feet allowed the young man to run up the steel framework. The screams from the trapped people above made Yukio run up the steel framework faster until he reached the top. Yukio stood on the rails in the path of the roller-coaster car, bracing himself for the impact that was sure to come.

The roller-coaster cars smashed into the young man's chest. Screams came from the trapped people on the roller-coaster as the emergency brakes finally activated while Yukio did his best to stop the ride. Sparks flew from the rails as both the screeching brakes and Yukio brought the roller-coaster car to a complete stop. Once the danger had passed, the people Yukio saved all cheered.

Yukio was about to give the people he rescued a salute but almost immediately, the leaping Grasshopper Virus attacked him from below. The monster brought Yukio with it into the sky. Once they started to fall back down to the Earth, Yukio hurried to bring out one of his weapons.

**"Executing Gun App!"** his phone announced.

Yukio pulled out his firearm from within the blast of electricity released by his phone. He aimed the barrel at the Grasshopper Virus above him and fired several bullets of electricity. Each bullet struck the Virus but to Yukio's surprise, none of his bullets had an effect. He continued firing bullets into the monster's exoskeleton. His electricity no longer affected the Virus as much as did before. He knew it was receiving damage because of the black burn marks his bullets left behind on its exoskeleton but it felt like the monster was simply ignoring his electricity.

Yukio turned his attention to his other problem. Once again, he was falling back down to earth from a dangerous height. This time, however, he had a full battery.

Yukio focused his electricity into his gun and fired it at the ground, creating an explosion of electricity that slowed down his descent. He continued creating explosions until he landed safely among the food stands. He used up a lot of his energy but he managed to survive the fall without falling into pieces.

"Watch out, Vitaz!" Shiho yelled.

Yukio rolled out of the way as the Grasshopper Virus crashed into the earth. The shockwave from the monster's crash sent Yukio flying into an empty food stand. Before Yukio could recover, the monster picked up a propane tank from another empty food stand and threw it at the young man. Yukio acted quickly and accidently fired an electric bullet into the propane tank, creating an explosion that sent him flying again. The young man rolled across the ground, losing his gun, until he jumped back to his feet.

The Grasshopper Virus roared again, charging at Yukio like a feral animal.

"What happened to you?" Yukio asked blocking or dodging the monster's attacks with its blades. "You weren't this uncontrollable last time we fought."

The monster ignored Yukio and continued to swing its arms at him. A few times, the Virus got a hit on the young man but Yukio got a lot more hits on it. The Grasshopper Virus, however, ignored the electricity that coursed through its body every time Yukio hit its exoskeleton and went on swinging wildly.

Yukino and Yukiteru watched the battle from their seats at the top of a Ferris Wheel. They watched smiling at their brother being overwhelmed by the feral Grasshopper Virus. Yukiteru smiled from satisfaction of seeing the Virus he injected into the monster work just as expected.

"What did you give my Virus?" Yukino asked her brother. "It wasn't half this strong the last time it fought."

"I merely injected another Virus into your weakling," Yukiteru answered. "To be specific, the Berserk Virus."

Yukino's eye went wide-open. "Don't you know how dangerous the Berserk Virus can be?"

"Yes, there's a chance it'll break free from the nano-machines programming and regain enough free will to attack us," Yukiteru said still smiling.

"And yet you still injected into my Virus," Yukino said frowning.

"Not when the Virus it mixes with is a natural weakling like your Grasshopper Virus," Yukiteru replied. "It might be a lot stronger but still not strong enough to defeat your Fire Virus or my Water Virus."

Yukiteru felt the air around them become hotter. The air around them became hot enough that steam started to rise from Yukiteru's skin. He knew the source was his sister's increasing anger at him so he decided to remain silent and turn his attention back to his brother.

The Grasshopper Virus kicked Yukio in the chest with both of his insect legs. There was so much strength in that monster's legs that after it kicked him, it sent Yukio shooting through the air until he went straight through the metal fence surrounding the theme park and crashed into a car. Yukio moaned from the pain signals his nano-machines sent to his brain while the car's security alarm blared into his ears. The young man sent an electric current into the car and forcefully shut off the alarm.

Seiji and Shiho watched the Virus rammed its head into Yukio's chest again, not allowing the young man to recover. They continued to watch the Virus pound its fists into Yukio's body, not once letting him get up. Yukio tried to get away but the Virus would not stop attacking.

" You can beat him, Vitaz! Pump that monster's body full of electricity!" Shiho cheered trying to help her new friend.

She continued to cheer Yukio on but her cheering got weaker and weaker the more the Grasshopper Virus smashed the young man into the ground. Soon, her cheering turned into begging Yukio to fight back. The young man's suit was covered in cuts and black spots caused by the monster's attacks. Seeing her hero in this state made tears well up in Shiho's eyes.

"Yukio's done for," Yukino whispered grinning.

"Better thank me for making your Virus stronger," Yukiteru chuckled.

Shiho watched the one-sided fight and saw her hero take punch after punch from the monster. If nothing stopped the Grasshopper Virus, Yukio would be killed...

A tear ran down her cheek as Shiho screamed. "Please, Yukio! Get up and fight back!"

A bullet struck the Grasshopper Virus in its exposed neck. The monster screamed from the pain of being shot in its neck and stopped beating on the android. Yukio opened his eyes and saw the Virus screaming in pain, silver liquid trickling out of its neck wound. Another bullet pierced the monster's exposed left knee, making it scream louder.

Heat exploded from Yukino. "Who's helping him?" she screamed.

Yukiteru, Yukino, Yukio, and Shiho all turned their eyes to the one who saved the young man.

Having came out of his hiding place, Seiji held his pistol with both of his hands, aiming the barrel of the firearm at another one of the Grasshopper Virus' joints. He fired another bullet into the monster's other knee. With both its knee shot, the monster fell. The monster flailed its limbs uselessly on the ground.

"You made a beautiful woman cry," Seiji said keeping his pistol pointed at the monster. "Either commit seppuku right now or defeat that monster!"

Yukio heard Seiji's voice and wondered why he was there but his desire to defeat the Virus overpowered his curiosity. His hand slowly made its way to his belt and once he reached it, Yukio spun the wheel of icons on the screen until he got the one he wanted. He weakly tapped the icon, making his phone announce his choice.

**"Executing Overcharge App!"**

Electricity exploded out of Yukio's suit, giving him the boost of energy he needed to stand up. The Grasshopper Virus screamed at Yukio, swinging its arms wildly but it couldn't stand up until the nano-machines in its blood fixed the monster's knees. Yukio ignored the Virus' screams and pressed another icon on his phone's screen.

**"Executing Knuckle App!"** his phone announced.

Electricity gathered around Yukio's right fist and transformed into a thick silver and gold knuckle duster. Yukio focused on making the electricity his body emitted to travel through his golden circuits and gather inside the one knuckle duster. His knuckle duster glowed white hot from all the electricity coursing through it.

Yukio took a step forward and swung his fist down at the monster.

"Lightning Rider Punch!" he yelled.

His knuckle duster blasted through the Grasshopper Virus' exoskeleton and created an explosion of electricity. The monster screamed as electricity coursed through its silver blood. Yukio's electricity forced the nano-machines in the Grasshopper Virus' blood to turn the monster back into an uninjured human. Yukio jumped away as the monster gave one last scream before it exploded.

Shiho jumped out of joy of seeing her hero turning the tables and defeating the Virus while Seiji started to panic once he noticed that he was no longer hiding from the two.

Once the smoke cleared, Yukio placed his hand on the unconscious Ueno's chest and gave his body a harmless shock, rendering the nano-machines in his blood useless. Once he finished curing the man of his Virus, his transformation undid itself in a flash of light and electricity. The beating he received from the monster came back all at once, causing Yukio to collapse. Shiho and Seiji forgot about the detective's sudden appearance and hurried to help the android.

The two androids didn't watch the two help his brother. Yukiteru was more concerned about the incredible heat his sister emitted. She radiated so much heat that Yukiteru's body was quickly turning into steam. It took Yukiteru transforming into his Water Virus form in order to prevent Yukino from burning down the theme park. The heat his sister released made Yukiteru unable to change into anything better than a large body of water in the shape of a human. He grabbed his sister and forcefully made her leave the theme park.

Meanwhile, Shiho checked out her unconscious hero for injuries. Seiji watched her until he noticed the man who used to be infected with the Grasshopper Virus.

"This guy is well-known in the department," Seiji told Shiho.

"For what?" Shiho asked still checking Yukio's body.

"The department keeps getting complaints from parents of children this guy yelled at," Seiji answered. "It got to the point that this guy couldn't leave his office until nighttime or else he would scare away customers. Honestly, I don't know why this guy works at a theme park if he hates children."

"Wait, that means he lied to us!" Shiho yelled. "He said Masao was the one who hated children. I bet he knows exactly where Masao is..."

"He probably doesn't know," Yukio said opening his eyes. "Yukino or another one of my four other siblings probably kidnapped him because he witnessed the Virus transform.

Both Shiho and Seiji were surprised to hear his voice and looked down at Yukio to see the young man staring back.

"If it isn't too much trouble, then could you give me something to eat?" Yukio asked. "I'll need at least thirty minutes for my nano-machines to heal my wounds. It'll go faster if I eat something."

Shiho nodded and ran to get Yukio food. Once Shiho was gone, Yukio turned his attention to Seiji.

"I want to know why you're here but I won't ask you to tell me, Seiji-san," Yukio said. "You saved me from being destroyed by the Grasshopper Virus and for that, I'm thankful."

Seiji felt guilty for not telling Yukio that he was told to follow him. He felt even more guilty when he found out later that Shiho didn't suspect him of anything. She honestly believed it was just coincidence that he had to investigate a case at the same theme park they went to. She even told him everything about Yukio and the Viruses. Despite his guilty conscience, however, Seiji didn't tell Yukio or Shiho his real reason for being there. He continued to keep it a secret while he and Shiho brought Yukio back to his apartment.

...

"...And that's the end of my report," Seiji's voice said from the telephone on top of a mahogany desk. A beep came out of the telephone, signaling that Seiji had just ended the call.

"I don't understand why we can't just go into that detective's apartment and kill Yukio there," Yukino complained radiating enough heat to ruin the luxurious rug she stood on. "It would be so much easier without him in the way."

"Our goal is not killing the problem child," a deep and menacing voice answered. The man who spoke hid himself from sight, letting the young woman only see the back of his leather chair.

"It's to infect men and women with our Viruses and let the Virus do what it wants until the nano-machines start to multiply within the infected person's blood," Yukiteru continued. "Then we bring the infected person to have their blood drawn in order to have more samples of the same Virus we infected them with."

"But you lost three precious Viruses, Yukino!" the man yelled crushing the wine class in his hand.

Yukino flinched at the sudden yell aimed at her. She stopped radiating heat and trembled out of fear of the man in front of her.

Yukino quickly spoke to protect herself. "I'm sorry but the next Virus I use-"

"You won't be infecting anyone," the man interrupted. "We can't risk losing anymore Animal or Bug Viruses."

"But I-"

"That's an order, Yukino!" he yelled.

Yukino flinched again at the sudden yelling. She tried to argue but the moment she opened her mouth, she felt an unbearable heat envelop over. Heat wasn't supposed to bother her and yet she was burning on the inside. The heat within her body disappeared when she decided to remain silent while the man

"Make sure you succeed in procuring more samples of your Knowledge Viruses, Yukiteru," the man told the young man. "We need them as much as Yukimaru's Physical Viruses and Yukiko's Beauty Viruses."

Yukiteru grinned at his sister, who growled at him and started to radiate heat again. He ignored the heat and bowed to the man in front of them.

"I'll be sure to make you proud, Father..."

**End of 'Asking For A Favor'**


	5. Episode 5: The Fire of Life

"How did this happen?"

The Caucasian man with brown hair downed a whole glass of scotch. He loosened his tie and took off his suit's jacket, throwing it onto the empty metal stool next to his seat. The foreign man sat at the far end of the bar, away from the laughing men and women crowding the other side. He pulled on his short hair while his glass was refilled by the male bartender.

"It was supposed to be a one-night stand," the foreign man moaned. "I decide to look her up just because I'm in the country again after nine months. She then tells me she's pregnant with my child!"

The bartender readjusted the cartoonish pins sticking out of his uniform. "That must have came as such a surprise," he chuckled.

"Of course I was surprised," the drunken man responded. "I come back to this country on another business trip and find out I'm about to become a father."

The bartender picked up the foreign man's glass. For a second, the man noticed the golden circuit-like veins in the bartender's hand while he refilled the glass.

"Sounds like you have quite the problem," he said with his other hand searching through his pockets.

The foreign man sighed. "I guess I have to own up to my mistake and marry her."

"That's one solution," Yukiteru said grinning. "However, I prefer a much different solution..."

Yukiteru swung the syringe he took out of his pocket at the foreign man's neck. The syringe's short needle pierced his neck. He yelled but Yukiteru's hand turned into water that surrounded the foreign man's mouth, silencing his yell. Yukiteru used his free hand to inject the silver liquid inside the syringe into the man's blood stream. Once he had the Virus injected into his body, the foreign man passed out. His head laid on the bar counter unconscious while Yukiteru discarded the syringe.

The android grinned at his new Virus. "No more free will for you," he whispered. "You'll deal with your problem with whatever solution the Virus gives you..."

...

"I win again," Aki laughed throwing down her five cards, revealing the Four of a Kind.

"This is the seventh time I lost," Yukio said showing his cards. The young man didn't even have a pair.

"Maybe you're no good at chance games, Yukio-sama," Hana said tossing her five cards aside.

"Hana-san is right," Shiho added giving her five cards to Aki, who shuffled them back into the deck. "Every game of chance we played, you always lose. It's like you have the worst luck in the world."

"Or maybe I'm just too good," Aki said giving her friends a devious smile.

"Let's play again," Yukio said determined to win the next round.

Seiji sighed while he watched the four friends play poker on his living room table. He was lucky that his case allowed him to stay in his apartment but after four more days of lying around, he was starting to get bored. Yukio never did anything outside of his apartment unless it had something to do with those monsters he called Viruses. He studied the shows on the television or played with Shiho and her two friends. Again, he felt jealously seeing how close Yukio and Shiho were. He wanted to throw the young man out of his apartment but that would ruin his relationship with Shiho.

Seiji tried to think of a way to get the android out of his apartment while the three girls laughed at Yukio's eighth lost at poker.

"You didn't even have a pair again," Hana said covering her mouth with her hands to prevent herself from bursting out laughing.

"That bad luck of yours is the real deal," Aki chuckled.

"Honestly, what were you doing before you met us?" Shiho asked with a smile.

It took a moment for Yukio to think about her question. "Either being attacked by wild animals or angering some suspicious people while I walked to this city," he answered. "And that was before I accidentally walked took the wrong road into Futo City and got involved with a dangerous case..."

Shiho, Aki, and Hana stopped laughing at the young man. Instead, they stared at him with wide eyes once they realized how much problems Yukio's bad luck gave him.

Yukio broke the silence once he felt the familiar signal of a Virus. "A Virus is activating!" he yelled jumping to his feet and running out of the apartment.

The three girls followed the android after he ran out of the apartment. Seiji waited a few minutes before he too left his apartment to follow Yukio.

…

Men and women screamed at the sight of the monster that had appeared in the middle of a park. The huge monster dragged its whole body made out of ice across the grass. Everything that came near the monster froze. From the grass, trees, and the random junk left behind by the fleeing citizens were covered with a sheet of ice after the Virus walked past. The ice monster moaned while it dragged its whole body towards an unknown goal.

Yukio soon appeared at the empty park and placed himself in front of the monster's path. The young man didn't waste any time and took out his smartphone. He swiped the screen and turned his phone on. A wheel of icons popped up with the icon of a belt in the middle of the phone's screen. Yukio pressed the icon of a belt, making his phone announce his choice.

**"Executing Driver App!"**

A metal belt appeared around Yukio's waist. The young man got ready to place his smartphone into the empty slot of the belt but was interrupted when an exhausted Aki ran up to his side.

"Aki? Where's Shiho and Hana?" Yukio asked surprised.

The exhausted college girl spoke in between breaths. "Somewhere resting... three blocks... that way..." she answered pointing in the direction she came from. She smiled when she felt the cool air touch her sweaty face. "That feels so nice..."

Aki looked in the direction the cool air was coming from and saw the Virus dragging its feet towards them. She screamed at the sight of the ice monster and hid behind Yukio for protection.

"I'm confused, Aki," Yukio said glancing behind his shoulder. "You told the others and myself that the next time you see a Virus, you would beat it up yourself. Why are you hiding behind me now?"

"Shut up!" Aki yelled punching Yukio in the side. She regretted hitting him because she almost broke her hand punching the young man's surprisingly hard body. She continued while holding her hurting hand. "Just hurry up and turn into a Kamen Rider or whatever..."

Yukio shrugged and went back to putting his phone into the empty slot of his metal belt. Aki stepped back to get out of the way of Yukio's transformation. The phone, however, didn't announce his transformation into Kamen Rider Vitaz. Instead, it remained silent on Yukio's belt.

Yukio looked down at his belt. "I have a full battery so it should be working..."

The android slapped his phone over and over but it still didn't activate the Vitaz App. The phone, however, did announce something else.

**"Beginning Download!"** his phone announced. **"No other Apps may be used until download is finished!"**

"Download? What are you talking about?" Yukio asked his phone.

"What's wrong?" Aki asked wondering why he didn't transform despite the ice monster getting closer and closer to them.

"My phone never did this before," Yukio answered pulling his phone out of his belt. "It started downloading something without my permission."

"Then stop the download!" Aki yelled snatching Yukio's phone out of his hand. She rapidly tapped her finger against the phone's screen but it didn't react to her tapping.

Yukio took his phone back from the college girl. "This phone doesn't react unless it's my fingerprints," he told his friend. He did the same as Aki but even he didn't get a reaction out of his phone. "Or at least it should."

The Virus roared at the two, getting both the android's and the college girl's attention back on their real problem. It may be very slow-moving but it was getting closer to them. The freezing air it released started to become painful instead of relieving to Aki. The air she breathed became visible as the temperature around them fell.

"Where is she?" the Virus moaned in a voice that sounded like a man desperate for heat. "It's her fault I'm so cold!"

The ice monster roared again and swung its arm at Yukio. Spikes made out of ice fired out of the monster's arm and flew towards the young man. Yukio grabbed over five of the spikes in between his fingers but three more got past and pierced his chest. The spikes sticking out of Yukio's chest started to freeze his silver blood, forcing him to drop the other spikes in his hands and quickly pull out the ones in his chest.

"What is with these spikes? They're unnaturally cold," Yukio said scanning the temperature of the spikes of ice that was shot at him.

"It's attacking again!" Aki warned the young man.

Yukio looked up at the Virus and saw that it was taking in an unusually deep breath. Once it finished, the ice monster exhaled it all at once, blowing out a literal blizzard from within its mouth. The young man pushed Aki out of the blizzard's path and took the full force of the attack. His skin and clothes froze from the sheer temperature of the blizzard but the electricity coursing through his body kept his circuits and internals from freezing. By the time the blizzard ended, a thin sheet of ice enveloped Yukio's whole body. His eyes still moving underneath the ice proved to Aki that the android was still alive.

"Where is she?" the Virus roared.

The Virus disappeared in a twister of freezing air and ice, leaving to search for its goal in another place. Yukio and Aki were surprised to see it leave so quickly but were grateful it didn't continue its assault on the young man.

Aki hurried to get Yukio out of the ice while the two spectators on top of a nearby building watched.

"Why did it leave?" Yukino asked her brother.

Yukiteru chuckled at his sister. "I'm not ordering it to fight our little brother," he answered adjusting another one of his cartoonish pins on his collar. "Unlike my quick-to-anger little sister, I believe the Virus should solve its problem with the powers I give it. My Freeze Virus must solve its own problem before I force it to kill Yukio."

"This is why I consider your Knowledge Viruses to be worthless," Yukino said radiating an intense heat. "If it weren't for our father's orders, I would create another Virus to kill our little brother."

"But Daddy said no, so you're stuck here with big brother!" A very loud and familiar girl's voice said to the two.

Yukino and Yukiteru turned their eyes to the direction of the voice and saw a young woman in her early twenties sitting above them on nothing but the air. The young woman wore a white school girl's uniform with a pleated skirt and the uniform's black jacket tied around her waist. Half of her long black and silky hair was tied into a single pigtail while the other half hid her face. If one looked close enough at her pale skin, they would see the same golden circuit-like veins that Yukino, Yukiteru, and Yukio had glowing underneath their skin.

The woman spun around in the until it looked like she laying down on an invisible couch with her head resting on her palm.

"Yukiko," Yukino and Yukiteru said sounding annoyed at the appearance of their little sister.

"Daddy sure yelled at you a lot, Yukino," their little sister Yukiko giggled. She pointed at her big sister with a very long and painted pink fingernail. "You lost over three Viruses to Yukio. That must be why Daddy yelled at you."

Yukiko giggled again. "I'm Daddy's favorite because none of my Viruses were destroyed," she said grinning, showing a set of perfect white teeth.

"Father doesn't pick favorites, Yukiko," Yukiteru sighed. "He wants us the five of us to spread our Viruses and make sure they survive long enough to collect more samples of the same Virus."

"Not to mention that none of your Viruses ever fought Yukio!" Yukino yelled at her little sister, radiating enough heat to make steam rise from Yukiteru's body. "Every single one of your Beauty Viruses are complete wimps incapable of doing anything but apply make-up! Our little brother would destroy every single one of them!"

"Not true!" Yukiko argued losing her grin and spinning around in the air until she was standing up with her hands on her hips. "My Celebrity Virus and Singer Virus are both strong! It's just they..."

"Are too busy with the fame you helped give them," Yukino finished. "They barely give more than one sample of their Virus every few months. Not to mention how you don't ever give them orders. They would listen to you if you just get over that stupid beauty-is-everything personality of yours and force them to transform!"

Yukiko puffed out her cheeks and stomped on an non-existent floor. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she yelled continuing to stomp her feet. "My Virus' strength lies in their beauty! They can beat up your stupid Animal and Bug Viruses any day! The only Virus you managed to get more samples of is that stupid Sloth Virus! Great success that was!"

Yukino bit her lip while more heat radiated out of her body. It got to the point that Yukiteru had to increase the distance between himself and his sister or else turn into a cloud of steam. Yukiko saw her sister radiating more heat and responded by swirling her hands in a circle, creating powerful twisters around them. The heat Yukino radiated and the wind Yukiko generated would have destroyed the rooftop but Yukiteru intervened before they could attract attention.

"You two better calm down before our oldest brother Yukiya notices," Yukiteru told his sisters.

"Yukiya? Where's Yukiya?" Yukiko said panicking and looking around for her big brother.

The female android stopped generating wind and fell back to the ground. She landed on the rooftop and quickly tried to make herself invisible by hiding behind Yukiteru. She hid behind her brother like a terrified animal.

"I'm sorry, Yukiya! I won't steal your stuff anymore, I promise!" Yukiko yelled shaking behind Yukiteru.

"She's so stupid," Yukino sighed shaking her head.

"Why are you here, Yukiko?" Yukiteru asked sighing with his other sister.

Yukiko remembered her task and took out two very tiny syringes out of her jacket's pockets. "Here's this month's suppressors," she said handing her brother and sister the syringes.

The two sighed again as they took the syringes from their little sister. They jabbed the tiny needles into their wrists, injecting the contents into their silver blood. Once they were done injecting themselves, they tossed aside the syringes and went back to watching Yukiteru's Freeze Virus, ignoring their little sister who decided to follow them.

….

After he thawed his body and repaired himself, Yukio continued to search for the Virus while the rest of his friends had to go back to their classes. His search went on until the sun started to set. The android, however, couldn't find the signal of the Virus again and had to sit down at a bus stop. He simply waited on the bench for the right bus. Thirty minutes passed while Yukio sat on the bench next to the bus stop.

"Excuse me," a woman's voice said.

Yukio turned his head to see a pregnant woman in her late twenties wearing a sundress sit down on the bench with him. The woman felt relief to finally sit down and rest her whole body. She looked at Yukio to see the young man was staring at her enlarged belly.

"Never saw a pregnant woman before?" the woman laughed.

"I know everything about pregnancy and saw pictures," Yukio said. "But yes, I have never seen a real pregnant woman before."

The woman laughed at Yukio again. "That's unusual but I guess it's possible," she said.

The woman held her hand out to Yukio. "My name's Rinko Tsugami," she told the young man.

"Yukio Kikaido," he said shaking the woman's hand. "And if I'm correct, pregnancy is an incredibly painful process. While it is a process necessary to keep the human population stable, I simply don't understand why women willingly go through this pain when there are other painless choices."

"That's a subject a stranger can't answer," Rinko chuckled. "But you should ask your own mother. I'm sure she'll tell you why."

"...My mother died three months ago," Yukio whispered.

Rinko's smile disappeared after hearing that Yukio's mother was deceased. "I'm sorry for bringing it up," she apologized.

The two remained silent until Yukio started to feel the familiar signal of a Virus activating nearby. He instantly jumped to his feet and looked around until his eyes fell on a strange foreign man standing across the street. The foreign man wore heavy and thick winter clothing despite it being the middle of summer. His teeth chattered while he looked up at Yukio and Rinko, showing his blue-tinted skin.

"Found you..." he whispered with a freezing blue mist coming out of his mouth.

"What are you looking at?" Rinko asked Yukio noticing how alert he became. She looked across the street and saw the foreign man, being surprised when she recognized him.

"Joshua?"

**"Freeze Virus Corruption Start..."**

The foreign man screamed as black energy exploded out of his body. The black energy enveloped the man's whole body and transformed him into the icicle monster. The appearance of the Virus caused screaming again as men and women either drove away or abandoned their cars to flee from the monster.

"What happened?" Rinko whispered terrified of the man's transformation.

"You did this to me! It's your fault!" the monster screamed releasing a wave of freezing air.

Yukio stopped Rinko from stepping closer to the Virus. "Whoever this guy is, it doesn't matter right now," Yukio told the pregnant woman taking out his smartphone. "He's a Virus and it looks like you're his target."

The young man pushed Rinko away and turned his phone on.

**"Executing Driver App!"** his phone announced after Yukio pressed the icon on his phone.

Yukio watched as a metal belt with an empty slot appeared around his waist. "Looks like I can use my phone," he said staring at his metal belt.

The young man then placed his smartphone into the empty slot of the metal belt. Electricity started to be released from the phone and the icons on the screen began to shake. Yukio swung his arms upwards with his phone announcing his transformation.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"**

"Henshin!" Yukio yelled swinging his hands down to swipe the wheel of icons on his phone.

The Freeze Virus roared at Yukio while a wheel of electricity came out of his metal belt. The monster fired more icicle spikes at the young man but each spike was blocked by the wheel of electricity spinning a perfect orb around Yukio. Rinko and the Virus watched as blasts of electricity equipped Yukio's body with a shining silver suit. Golden circuits formed in the fabric of his silver suit while one last blast of electricity formed the helmet with insect eyes over his head. Yukio ended his transformation into Vitaz by tossing aside his silver and gold scarf, creating a powerful gust of wind that almost blew Rinko off her feet.

Yukio pointed at the monster. "I'll show you..."

"That you won't win this time around!" he yelled.

Yukio charged at the Freeze Virus, breaking the spikes it fired at him with his fists. Once he got close enough to the monster, his whole body was blasted with the freezing air that came off the monster's body. Yukio increased the voltage of his suit, making his circuits glow red hot from the electricity coursing through them. The heat his suit gave off prevented the android from freezing and allowed Yukio to punch the monster's body. Yukio's fist, however, didn't break through its hard armor of ice.

"Don't get in my way!" the monster roared swinging his arm at the young man.

Yukio yelled as the monster's swing sent him flying across the street until he crashed into a street lamp. The young man laid on the cement with silver blood dripping from the wounds the monster's spikes gave him. His nano-machines hurried to close up the wounds and repair his suit. Yukio was getting ready to attack the Virus again.

The Freeze Virus, however, could not care less about Yukio.

"How could you hide this from me for nine whole months?" the monster moaned, dragging its body towards Rinko. "You're pregnant with my child so why did you hide it from me?"

Tears ran down Rinko's cheeks. "The pregnancy was a surprise to me too," she told him. "I didn't find out until two months after you left the country."

"You could have told me!" the monster roared releasing another wave of freezing air that made Rinko protect her belly from the cold.

"I'm sorry," Rinko cried.

"It doesn't matter," the Virus moaned raising both its arms. "I don't want to be a father so I'll solve that problem quickly..."

Rinko screamed as the Virus swung both its arms down at the pregnant woman. It's attempt to kill Rinko, however, was stopped by Yukio, who blocked both of the monster's spiky arms with both of his own arms.

Silver blood trickled out of the wounds where the monster's spikes pierced Yukio's suit.

"I won't let a Virus kill anyone!" Yukio yelled kicking the monster's in its side.

The Freeze Virus yelled from the pain of having electricity course through its body from Yukio's leg. Another kick from the young man sent the monster rolling across the street.

"I'll need more power to break through that armor of ice," Yukio said spinning through the icons on his phone's screen.

Yukio wanted to press the Knuckle App but he noticed that the wheel of icons was longer than usual. He looked down at the smartphone in his belt and saw that there were three extra Apps included among the ten he usually had.

"New Apps? Is that what the download was for?" Yukio wondered looking at the three new Apps on his smartphone.

The young man's attention was caught by the one of the three new icons. The icon that caught his eye was of a shadowy man in the middle of a blazing fire.

"A fire App will be useful," Yukio said pressing the icon of his new App, making his phone announce his choice.

**"DANGER! OVERHEAT APP!"**

Yukio was surprised to hear a loud and menacing man's voice announce his choice instead of the usual computerized female's voice. He was more surprised to find that his core temperature was increasing drastically. Steam started to rise from his white-hot circuits and the heat continued to increase. Heat radiated out of Yukio's suit, negating the freezing air that came out of the Freeze Virus.

Yukio let out a loud battle cry and charged at the monster. The heat he radiated melted every spike of ice the Virus fired at him. His heat allowed Yukio to get close to the monster and punch it over and over with burning fists. Every punch that struck the monster melted through its armor of ice and hit the soft blue skin underneath. His punches burned the monster's soft body, making it scream in pain.

His attacks, however, stopped the moment his circuits started to burst from the heat radiating out of his body. The young man's circuits couldn't handle the heat he radiated, causing his circuits to explode in a shower of sparks. Yukio yelled in pain as the heat continued to make his circuits explode.

"Too hot!" Yukio yelled as the circuits in his right arm exploded, spraying a shower of sparks onto the Virus.

The monster knew it couldn't fight the android with so much heat coming out of him and hurried to disappear in a twister of freezing air, leaving Yukio to deal with his heat problem.

Yukio writhed in pain on the ground as the heat he radiated destroyed even more of his circuits and other important parts of his body. His hand hurried to grab his smartphone and forcefully pull it out of his belt. His transformation undid itself in a flash of light and electricity, leaving the untransformed and burning hot Yukio on the cement street. Steam rose out of the android's mouth while he struggled to get back to his feet.

"Are you alright?' Rinko asked Yukio.

The pregnant woman grabbed Yukio's hand in order to help him but screamed in pain from having her hands burn the moment she touched his skin.

"I have to... protect you," Yukio whispered with his teeth clenched from the heat and pain.

"What are you talking about? Do you know what happened to Joshua?" Rinko said blowing on her red palms.

"He's been infected with one of my brother's Knowledge Viruses," Yukio told the pregnant woman.

"Virus?" she asked.

Yukio explained to Rinko about the Viruses and who he was. He told her he was an android who fought the monsters created by the Viruses his brothers and sisters spread. By the time he finished, Yukio noticed that the pregnant woman believed every word he said.

"My big brother Yukiteru's Knowledge Viruses make the infected focus on solving whatever problem they have," Yukio told Rinko. "They won't stop until they solve the problem."

Yukio looked around the empty street. "He ran away this time but I'm sure he'll come back," he said. "I got to get you to somewhere safe before he heals..."

With that said, Rinko followed Yukio to the single place he considered safe.

...

Seiji stared at the pregnant woman sitting down on his couch. He already knew of the situation since he'd been following Yukio the moment he left his apartment but still couldn't believe that the android would bring someone into his apartment to protect them.

"I don't understand why Joshua would want to kill me," Rinko cried. "He was so nice to me when we first met. We were supposed to discuss the contract our companies wanted but we liked each other so much that we ended up going to Joshua's hotel and..."

"Mind not talking about that?" Seiji interrupted.

"Sorry," Rinko said coming back to her senses. "But still, I don't understand why he is trying to kill me."

"Yukiteru's Knowledge Viruses makes it infected believe that there is only one way to solve their problem," Yukio told the pregnant woman. "Getting rid of the problem by killing the one they believe is the source."

To Yukio's surprise, Rinko started to cry harder. "So it's my fault Joshua is a monster?" she cried wiping her eyes with a napkin.

"It's not your fault," Yukio reassured. "It's Dad's fault..."

Seiji was surprised to see the angry expression Yukio had. During Yukio's stay in his apartment he never once saw this much emotion come from the android before.

Seiji's attention on Yukio's anger turned away the moment his apartment door opened and he saw the woman he hated the most, Aki, walk in. Aki held several bags full of cans of soda and candy, which she gave to the young man. Yukio's anger instantly disappeared and his attention went to devouring the sweets given to him.

"Courtesy of Hana," Aki said smiling as she watched the young man drink a whole can of lime soda.

"Who gave you keys to my apartment?" Seiji asked wondering how the woman got into his place.

Aki ignored the detective and turned her eyes to the pregnant woman sitting on Seiji's couch. "I thought you liked Shiho," Aki said grinning wickedly at Seiji. "Never thought you would be into this kind of thing."

"Shut up, devil woman," Seiji replied. "Yukio brought this woman into my apartment to protect her from a Virus."

"Really? You fought the Virus again?" Aki asked the young man.

"I was able to transform this time around," Yukio answered after eating a piece of licorice. "And I got three new Apps too but the App I used in the fight turned out to be dangerous."

Yukio told Aki about her battle with the Freeze Virus and how he managed to chase it away using the Overheat App. He told her about how the Overheat App caused his body to radiate enough heat to melt his circuits and that the App forced him to undo his transformation.

"Sounds like you downloaded an unusable program," Aki said after hearing of Yukio's fight with the Freeze Virus. She then took out her cell phone. "Anyway, tell me what the Virus' human form looks like so we can find and let you cure him."

"He's an American," Rinko told Aki. "But he was wearing a lot of winter clothing when we saw him transform."

A bead of sweat trickled down Aki's forehead. "He was wearing... winter clothes?" Aki asked sounding worried.

"Yeah," Rinko said noticing the college girl's worry. "Is there something wrong?"

"...There's a foreign guy wearing winter clothing standing next to this building's entrance," Aki told the others.

Aki's news surprised the other three enough that Seiji and Rinko gasped. Yukio instantly tried to leave the apartment but was stopped when Aki grabbed his arm.

"You can't just go and fight him again," Aki told the young man.

"But the Virus is just outside," Yukio said. "I have to defeat it and cure the infected man..."

"I don't care," Aki said pointing at the young man. "You will stay here until you recover or else I'll make sure to throw away every single sweet Hana buys for you."

_"That's it! I don't want to hear you call Yukimaru a stupid muscle-head anymore! You know how sensitive he can be, Yukio! Until you apologize to your big brother, I'm taking away all your candy!"_

Aki's stern voice and serious expression made the young man remember when his own mother yelled at him for either calling his siblings names or indirectly insulting what they liked to do. She would always threaten to take away his sweets, knowing he would do what she said because of how much he loved sugar. Something about Aki reminded Yukio of his own mother and because of that, he decided to listen to her.

Yukio's luck, however, didn't want him to rest.

"Um, I think we might have to leave right now," Rinko said.

The three looked at the pregnant woman and saw that she was holding her belly with a worried expression.

Rinko told the three why they might need to leave Seiji's apartment immediately.

"M-my water broke..."

_To be Continued..._


	6. Episode 6: The Fire of Life part 2

"How bad is your luck!?" Aki yelled pointing at the young man. "Now we don't have enough time to let you recover! We have to get this lady to the hospital as fast as possible!"

Yukio watched the college girl run around the apartment in a panic before he spoke. "I know the procedures to deliver a human baby if we cannot get Rinko-san to a hospital," he told the others. "All I would need is her permission and I can begin."

Aki picked up one of Seiji's old magazines off the living room table and rolled it up. Using the rolled-up magazine, the girl smacked Yukio's head.

"No way in hell is she giving birth to her baby in this dirty apartment," Aki said pointing the rolled-up magazine at the young man.

"I know how much danger I'm in," Rinko said starting feel the beginning of labor pains. "But I have to agree with her. I'd rather not have my baby be born in such a messy place."

"Hey," Seiji said insulted. "I don't want a some random lady give birth in my apartment. People will spread weird rumors about me if they hear screaming from my place."

Aki pushed Yukio towards the front door of the apartment. "We have to call an ambulance," she said. "If the monster is as slow as you say it is, then it has no hope of catching her once the ambulance drives away."

"So I buy time until that happens then?" Yukio asked.

Aki nodded. "It would be better if you defeat it before the ambulance gets here," she said. "But seeing as you can't defeat the Virus without that problem App, buying time is all we can hope for."

Yukio gave Aki a nod and ran out of the apartment. He ran down the hallway while his hand took out his smartphone and turned it on.

...

Joshua stood outside the apartment building Seiji lived in. He was told that the woman bearing his child is currently inside and waited outside for her to leave. The man's teeth chattered despite being directly in the sunlight wearing heavy winter clothing. Ever since he had been injected with something, he could never get warm. He knew that strange man was the reason but he couldn't disobey his orders to continue attacking the woman who held his baby.

Once he noticed an ambulance drive up to the apartment building and saw two men come out of the back with a stretcher, he knew what the strange man standing next to him would say.

"Time to turn back into my Freeze Virus," Yukiteru chuckled.

"...I don't want to hurt Rinko," he said with a freezing mist coming out of his mouth.

Yukiteru grinned at him. "You are so funny," he laughed. "As if you have a choice."

**"Freeze Virus Corruption Start..."**

Joshua yelled as black energy exploded out of his body and transformed him back into the monstrous Freeze Virus. The monster armored in ice roared at the ambulance, releasing a freezing wave of air around it. Yukiteru leapt away from the freezing air his Virus released and kept his distance while the monster dragged its heavy body towards the ambulance. It swung both of its arms at the vehicle, firing dozens of freezing spikes.

**"Executing Drill App!"**

Yukio, in his Vitaz suit, jumped into the path of the freezing spikes and threw his hand in front of him. Electricity fired out of his palm and spiraled around his arm, creating the image of a drill. Yukio's drill made out of his electricity spun fast enough to strike away each spike that came into contact with it. Once each spike had been struck away, Yukio charged at the monster and punched its hard ice armor with his electric drill. Yukiteru's Virus yelled in pain as the drill pierced through its armor and struck the soft blue body underneath.

"Stop interfering, Yukio!" Yukiteru yelled grabbing his brother from behind and throwing him away from his Virus.

Yukio's body crashed into the ambulance but the young man quickly recovered. His big brother turned his arm into liquid and fired a torrent of water at the young man. Yukio threw his arms up and took the full brunt of his brother's attack to protect the ambulance behind him.

"No matter how much electricity you generate, my Water Virus will drain it away!" Yukiteru laughed.

Yukiteru's eyes moved away from his little brother to the front door of the apartment building. The two men who came from the ambulance exited the building with his Virus' target lying down on their stretcher. The woman winced from labor pains while the two men carried her towards the ambulance.

The two men carrying Rinko, however, stopped once they saw the fight happening outside.

"Hurry and take her to the hospital!" Yukio yelled at the men while ignoring the torrent of water smashing into his body. "I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape!"

The two men looked at each other before deciding to trust Yukio. They opened the back of the ambulance and carried Rinko inside, closing the door behind them. Once Rinko was inside, the ambulance's horn rung while the vehicle drove. Yukiteru tried to change the path of his torrent but the moment he turned his attention away from Yukio, his little brother tackled him.

"Why are you getting in the way?" Yukiteru asked before tossing his brother aside. "All I want is for my Virus to get its problems solved. Is wanting my Virus problems to be solved so bad?"

Yukiteru stared at his Virus and pointed at Yukio, giving it the silent order to attack. The monster roared and charged at the young man. The freezing air coming from the monster froze parts of Yukio's suit but the electricity coursing through his circuits kept him warm enough to fight back.

"He never had a problem to begin with!" Yukio yelled kicking the Virus away before it could pierce him with its spikes. "All you're doing is forcing a father to kill the mother of his own child!"

Yukiteru started to grind his teeth as he saw his Freeze Virus start to lose against his brother. None of its attacks were affecting the young man while he threw punches and kicks that slowly broke through the monster's armor of ice. If he let this fight continue, then his Virus would end up just like his sister's Viruses.

He decided to tip the odds back into his favor.

"Water Virus Corruption Start!" Yukiteru yelled.

Both Yukio and the Freeze Virus stopped fighting and turned their eyes to the transforming Yukiteru, whose entire body had transformed into a large body of water in the shape of his body. They watched as navy blue scales formed over his chest, back, shoulder, mouth, and all four of his limbs to create armor over the young man's body of water. Yukiteru's transformation ended once two eye-like balls of lights floated up through his watery body to where the young man's eye sockets should be.

"What did Dad do to you, Yukiteru?" Yukio whispered upon seeing his big brother's complete Virus form.

When Yukiteru opened his scaly mouth, he spoke with a voice that sounded like a computerized male's voice mixed with his normal voice.

"Marvel at the sight of my Water Virus!" Yukiteru yelled full of pride for his current appearance. He pointed his scaly hands at his little brother. "Here's a taste of my power!"

Again, the young man fired a torrent of water but this time, he made the torrent much more compact and powerful. Yukio had to dodge the torrent and let it blast a hole straight through the stone wall of the building across the street.

Yukio had no time to rest as the Freeze Virus resumed swinging its spiky arms at him while his big brother fired stronger torrents of water. The two attacked Yukio together, forcing him to put all his strength into dodging the spiky arms and the torrents of water. Yukiteru took advantage of his little brother's dodging to get close and grab his brother's arm.

"Stay out of our way!" Yukiteru yelled tossing his little brother aside.

Yukio rolled across the cement floor while Yukiteru turned into a large ball of water around his Freeze Virus. The water that touched the Virus froze but Yukiteru ignored it as he began to roll his body onto the street. Yukiteru continued to roll until the ball of water was going fast enough to be able to catch up to the ambulance holding Rinko.

"I won't let you hurt her," Yukio whispered.

The young man spun the wheel of icons on the screen of his phone until he reached the motorcycle icon. He tapped his finger on the screen, causing his phone to announce his choice.

**"Executing Vitacycle App!"**

A ball of electricity fired out of Yukio's belt and grew larger until his special motorcycle came out. Yukio swung his leg over the seat and gripped the handles of the motorcycle. After letting one loud roar of the engine out, Yukio sped towards the rolling ball of water and ice.

Once Yukio rode his motorcycle out of sight, Aki and Seiji came out of the apartment. The college girl pushed the detective to hurry and unlock his car's door. Once the two got inside the car, Seiji turned on the ignition and placed a blaring police siren on top of his car. Seiji drove his car to follow behind Yukio, although taking a different path than the destruction the android took to chase after his big brother and the Virus.

Men and women screamed as the ball of water and ice tore through every obstacle that ended up in its path. Whenever they needed to turn, Yukiteru created several tendrils made out of his water to pierce nearby buildings and use them to curve his path.

"There's your target!" Yukiteru yelled when his eyes caught sight of the vehicle they were chasing.

The Freeze Virus pulled half of its body out of the ball of water and saw the ambulance in front of them. It immediately swung its arms out of the water and prepared to fire spikes of ice at the vehicle. It's aim, however, was thrown off the moment two bullets of electricity struck both of the monster's arms. The monster ended up firing spikes of ice at a shop's window, shattering the glass.

Yukio rode up to the rolling ball of water and ice, aiming the barrel of his gun at the Freeze Virus sticking out of the top. He fired several more bullets into the monster but the electricity was stopped by its hard armor of ice.

"This is what I hate about you, Yukio!" Yukiteru yelled as his arms reformed themselves from the ball of water. His arms swung towards the young man's motorcycle. "You should listen to me when I tell you not to do something! I'm the smartest one among Dad's children!"

"That's debatable!" Yukio yelled back swerving away from his brother's arms.

Yukio continued to ride his motorcycle away of his brother's attacks while staying close enough to the Virus to fire bullets of electricity at the monster. Yukiteru's arms stopped attacking Yukio and went to force the Freeze Virus back into the ball of water to protect it from further bullets. Yukio, however, didn't stop firing bullets of electricity at the block of ice within Yukiteru's rolling body of water.

The young man only stopped firing bullets when he heard a ring come from his smartphone. He tapped the screen and instantly, he heard a scrambled deep voice from within his helmet.

"Use the Overheat App, Yukio," the strange voice told the young man.

"Who is this? How did you call my phone?" Yukio said.

"Don't worry about who I am," the strange voice chuckled. "You have no chance against Yukiteru and his Freeze Virus unless you use the Overheat App."

"But the last time I used that App, it almost melted all my circuits," Yukio argued. "I can't take the chance this time. Rinko and her baby need me to protect them from the Virus!"

The strange voice laughed at Yukio. "You didn't even meet this woman until a few hours ago," the voice laughed. "For what reason do you have to risk your artificial life in order to protect complete strangers?"

It took the young man a few seconds to answer the strange voice.

"I'm Kamen Rider Vitaz," he answered. "That's enough reason for me."

The strange voice chuckled at his answer. "You pass, Yukio," the voice said. "Don't worry about the bugs. I fixed the Overheat App program while you were fighting Yukiteru. Should be able to use it with no problem..."

"You fixed it?" Yukio said noticing the way the voice said how it fixed his new App. "Are you the one who gave me this phone?"

The strange voice gave the young man one last chuckle before ending the conversation.

"Don't hang up on me!" Yukio yelled slapping his phone.

Yukio had let his guard for a moment and that allowed Yukiteru to fire a torrent of water at the front wheel of the young man's motorcycle. The torrent ripped the whole front wheel off the vehicle, causing Yukio to crash. Yukio and his ruined motorcycle went soaring through the air until the young man's body hit the ground and rolled to a stop on a green lawn. His motorcycle crashed into a street lamp and exploded.

Yukio moaned from the pain his nano-machines sent to his brain and struggled to get back to his feet. Luckily for him, he had landed right into the front lawn of the hospital where the ambulance holding Rinko drove up to. Yukio looked at the front entrance and saw two men inside the ambulance come out of the vehicle with the sweating Rinko on a stretcher. Rinko was in pain but she still took a moment to meet eyes with the young man and give him a smile.

Even from where Yukio was, he could still see Rinko mouth the words 'Thank you' to him.

"A little late but it doesn't matter," Yukiteru said turning back into a human shape once he reached the hospital. His Freeze Virus dragged its body towards the hospital while he spoke. "My Freeze Virus will solve all its problems and when it does, it won't go on a destroy-everything-in-sight spree. I can make it stay somewhere safe until its blood is ready to give more samples of the Freeze Virus."

"That's seriously your plan?" Yukio chuckled getting back on his feet. "Pretty simple for somebody who prides himself on being Mom's smartest child."

"I am the smartest!" Yukiteru yelled at his little mother. "And why did you say Mom? We don't have a mother, you idiot! Dad built us himself!"

Yukio clenched his fists tighter the moment he heard Yukiteru claim that their father built them.

"Don't you remember Mom, Yukiteru?" Yukio yelled pointing at his big brother. "She's the one who built and taught us everything about this world. She even gave every one of her children her family's name! Don't listen to any of the lies Dad tells you!"

Yukiteru fired a torrent of water at the young man. His little brother didn't move from where he stood and let the torrent strike his body. Intense pain signals came from Yukio's nano-machines but the young man ignored it. Once the torrent stopped, most of the circuit covering his chest were ruined and several holes were made in his Vitaz suit.

"I always knew you were stupid but not this stupid," Yukiteru said after his torrent stopped. He snapped his scaly fingers at his Freeze Virus. "Hurry up and freeze the whole hospital if you have to."

The Freeze Virus roared and obeyed its master's order. The freezing air it released from its body grew stronger and stronger as it gathered its strength for one huge blast to completely freeze the hospital behind Yukio. The young man knew that if the monster released that blast of freezing air at him, he would not be able to block it.

Unless he used the Overheat App...

Yukio hurried to spin the wheel of icons on his phone's screen until he reached the Overheat App's icon. His finger hesitated to press the icon while his mind remembered the pain it caused him the last time he used the App.

"I'll show you..."

The Freeze Virus roared and released all the freezing air it had gathered into one huge blast at the hospital. A blizzard of white snow came out of the monster and froze everything it passed on its path towards Yukio and the hospital behind him. Yukiteru laughed, thinking his little brother had no chance of stopping his Virus.

Yukio, however, tapped the icon of the Overheat App.

**"DANGER! OVERHEAT APP!"**

"I will protect Rinko and her baby!" Yukio yelled.

Yukio continued to shout while heat exploded out of his body. The heat he radiated pushed back the Freeze Virus' blizzard. Yukiteru stopped laughing once he saw that the heat Yukio radiated begin to stop his monster's blizzard. The young man continued to shout even when the heat he radiated completely turned the whole blizzard into steam. He yelled louder when the heat coming out of his body grew stronger and stronger.

"How are you doing this?" Yukiteru yelled feeling his body turn into steam from the heat his brother released. "This is the power of Yukino's Fire Virus, not yours!"

**"DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!"** Yukio's phone continued to announce while the young man shouted.

Aki and Seiji drove up to the hospital and both of them exited the car in a hurry once they saw the yelling android. They both gasped when Yukio's Vitaz suit was set aflame from the heat the young man radiated.

"What's happening to you, Yukio?" Aki whispered in awe of the scene she was witnessing.

Everyone had their eyes on Yukio the moment the flames covering his suit started to envelop his whole body. Yukio still kept yelling even after his whole suit glowed in a crimson light. The heat Yukio radiated immediately dissipated after the Vitaz suit started glowing. The crimson light coming off the Vitaz suit grew so strong that everyone watching him had to shield their eyes.

**"VITAZ OVERHEAT FORM!"** his phone yelled.

Yukio gave one last yell and his Vitaz suit exploded.

"Yukio!" Aki screamed.

Aki took a step forward to run into the cloud of black smoke the explosion created but her foot stopped the moment the college girl heard a loud steam whistle come from within the cloud. Her and the other's eyes opened wide once they saw what stood inside the cloud of smoke it cleared.

Yukio still stood where he was but his Vitaz suit had turned into a deep crimson. Armor in the shape of flames covered the young man's arms and legs with flames forming the letter V on his chest. A pipe made out of black iron stuck out of both Yukio's shoulder and when the young man released a loud shout, excess heat blast out of the pipes.

"He changed!" Aki yelled after seeing Yukio's new form.

Yukio didn't waste any time to test out his new power. The young man charged at the Freeze Virus and Yukiteru, both firing spikes of ice and torrents of water at him. Both of their attacks had no effect on the blazing hot Vitaz Overheat Form suit Yukio now wore. The ice and the water that came into contact with the suit instantly turned into steam from the heat.

The Freeze Virus swung its spiky arms at the incoming Yukio but both of its arms were blasted away by a powerful wave of heat that came out of the young man. With the monster unable to counterattack, Yukio shouted and released a powerful wave of heat. The wave of heat blasted the Freeze Virus off its feet and melted all of its ice, reducing the monster to a pitiful soft blue body flying through the air.

Yukio's attack, however, didn't end with melting the monster's armor. The pipes rotated around Yukio's shoulders until both pipes were sticking out of his shoulder blades. Heat blasted out of both pipes, propelling the young man into the air towards the Freeze Virus. Yukio gave the monster's soft body a very sharp kick to its gut. The monster screamed in pain as the heat coming off Yukio's foot scorched its skin. Its body soared through the air and only stopped when it crashed into the stone wall surrounding a parking lot.

Yukiteru looked at both his Freeze Virus and his brother. The heat coming off Yukio's body was turning his watery body into steam.

"Time to cut my losses!" Yukiteru yelled turning back into a formless body of water.

Yukio watched his brother escape by flushing the water that made up his body down a nearby sewer drain. The young man didn't care that Yukiteru escaped because his attention was more focused on the pitiful Freeze Virus across the street.

His finger spun the wheel of icons on his phone's screen until he reached the icon he wanted. Yukio tapped the icon, making his phone announce his choice.

**"Executing Overcharge App!"**

Electricity and Heat exploded out of Yukio's body. Both the electricity and the heat traveled through Yukio's circuits to gather inside both pipes sticking out of his back. The pipes enlarged from the amount of energy stored within them. The pipes rotated around Yukio's shoulder until they were both facing the Freeze Virus. Crimson and yellow light shined from within the pipes.

Yukio braced himself for the finishing move.

"Blazing Bolt!"

Two powerful beams of lightning and flames exploded out of the pipes. The monster moaned as it tried to reform its armor of ice while the two beams of lightning and fire shot through the air. Both beams mixed with the other the moment each beam came into contact with the Virus' soft blue body. Fire and Lightning scorched the monster's body into a black and burnt husk. While the monster burned, Yukio's electricity forced the nano-machines in the Virus' blood to turn Joshua back into an uninjured human.

Once the monster had turned back into Joshua, Yukio hurried to the his side and placed his hand on the unconscious man. He sent a harmless shock into the man's body, rendering all the nano-machines in his blood useless.

...

Hours passed until Joshua finally regained consciousness on a hospital bed. The man threw off all the sweat-drenched blankets on him. The cool air inside the hospital felt great on his sweaty skin but Joshua still felt a little cold despite being in the summer heat. He swung his leg to sit up on the bed but the foreigner accidentally threw his body off the bed. He landed painfully on the white floor and tried to stand up.

"Need help?"

Joshua looked up to see a strange young man with a ponytail offering him a hand. The man took his hand and with the help of the young man, he got back on his feet.

"You're the guy who helped me," Joshua said weakly.

"My name's Yukio Kikaido," the young man told the foreigner.

Joshua tried to take a step forward but he found that he didn't have enough strength in his legs. He would have fell had the young man not gave him his shoulder for support. The foreigner thanked Yukio and used his help to walk out of his room.

"Where's Rinko?" Joshua asked suddenly remembering what he did as the Freeze Virus. "Did... did I hurt her?"

Yukio smiled as he pointed at the room right next to his. "She's in there," he told him.

A sudden burst of energy made Joshua push his helper aside and stumble towards the room Yukio pointed at. Yukio didn't help the man as he watched the foreigner hurry to Rinko's room. Once he reached the door, the foreigner grabbed the handle and stopped.

"I... wanted to kill Rinko," Joshua said still holding the door's handle. "I can't face her after that."

Yukio gave the foreign man a pat on the back. He didn't answer the foreign man and had let him decide if he wanted to see Rinko. He would have remained on that side of the door...

Had he not heard the cry of a baby on the other side.

Joshua threw the door open and stopped when he saw the exhausted Rinko laying on a hospital bed with a baby wrapped in a pink blanket in her arms. A woman Joshua never saw before poked his baby's tiny cheeks with a wide smile on her face while the baby made tiny sounds. Tears formed in Joshua's eyes after he saw the baby in Rinko's arms.

Rinko noticed Joshua at the door and gave the foreign man a tired smile. She lifted her finger to point at him.

"Daddy's here," she whispered into her baby girl's ear.

"She doesn't blame you," Yukio told the crying man. "She knows it wasn't your fault."

Joshua wiped his eyes. "Thank you," he told Yukio. "Thank you... for stopping me before I did something I would regret."

Yukio smiled again and watched as the man went to see his baby girl.

...

"Look at you! Saying how much better you are than the rest of us and yet, here you are without a Freeze Virus!"

Yukino continued to laugh at her brother, who stayed sitting on the ledge of the roof.

"You lost one of your Knowledge Viruses!" Yukino laughed poking her finger into Yukiteru's back. "How many times did you tell me about the strength of those stupid Knowledge Viruses? That my Animal or Bug Viruses were useless? Just over a hundred times, I guess?"

Yukino slapped her brother's arm. "Yukio fought your stupid Knowledge Virus and he won!" she cackled.

Yukiteru ignored his sister's insults directed at him and continued to look at the scenery in front of him. One question had been in his mind ever since he fled from Yukio's new power. His curiosity at the question he had was the reason why he didn't tell Yukino or his father about Yukio's new power that resembled the Fire Virus.

"Why does Yukio believe we have a mother?" he whispered to himself.

_End of 'The Fire of Life'._


	7. Episode 7: Dirty Homerun

THWAK!

The sound of a bat striking a thrown baseball echoed throughout the whole baseball field. The batter sprinted towards the first base while the baseball soared through the air above the players. A single young man, who wore a black Gakuran with a student's cap on top of his messy black hair, watched the high school game playing at the baseball field from atop a distant hill. His long and tattered jacket didn't move a bit despite the strong wind blowing into the tall man. If a person looked closely enough at the young man's skin, they could see golden circuit-like veins underneath his skin.

"Found someone to infect, Yukimaru?" A girl's voice said from above the man.

Yukio's big brother Yukimaru glanced up to see his own little sister, Yukiko, floating in the air. The young woman was sitting down on a non-existent chair in the middle of the air with her eyes staring intently at the fashion magazine in her hands. Yukiko caused a tiny burst of air at the tip of her index finger every now and then while her big brother turned his eyes back to the baseball game.

Yukimaru opened his mouth to speak. "Just how..."

"Exciting is this game!?" He yelled in a loud voice full of energy.

Yukiko sighed as she plugged her ears for the incoming yells from her big brother.

"Constantly competing to find out who's better! This is what I love about sports!" he yelled throwing his arms into the air. He then swung them back down to point at a single player at the baseball field. "But those who don't play are declined the chance to shine!"

Yukimaru's hand pointed at the single player on the bench, a teen who looked just as strong as the other players but who didn't get the chance to play during the game.

"Once again, you pick someone who doesn't get to play," Yukiko said spinning around in the air until it looked like she was laying down on a non-existent couch.

"I pick those who don't play for the same reason you pick ugly women to use your Beauty Viruses on," Yukimaru told his sister. "I feel sorry for them and decide to help."

Yukiko threw aside her magazine and fell back to the earth. Once she stood on solid ground, Yukiko walked over to her brother and swung her hand to a stop in front of Yukimaru's face. Her index finger was inches away from touching the tip of his nose.

"I want one of my Beauty Virus' to team up with your Physical Virus," she told her big brother. "Yukio has defeated two of Yukino's Viruses and one of Yukiteru's Viruses. Our big brother and sister may have the brains but we have the beauty and brawn!"

For a second, Yukiko believed her big brother wouldn't accept her offer but jumped when he yelled his approval.

"Our Viruses will tear apart out little brother!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

"Yeah! We'll beat Yukio without Yukino or Yukiteru's useless brains!" Yukiko agreed swinging her hand into the air. "My beauty and your brawn can defeat that Vitaz power of his!"

"We'll win!" he shouted.

Yukimaru took a tiny syringe out of his jacket and instantly started sprinting towards the baseball field. The crazy android didn't notice that the baseball game was still being played and what would happen if he came sprinting through with the intent to stab one of the players. It took a massive blast of wind from Yukiko to stop her big brother from attracting too much attention. Despite the blast being strong enough to create a crater around Yukimaru, the young man was still standing at the bottom of the crater unharmed. Large plates of shiny gray metal fell off his body after Yukimaru took a step forward.

Yukiko sighed. "This is why Yukiteru and Yukino call you the dumbest of Dad's children," she whispered watching her brother ignore the blast of wind she created.

...

Yukio stared intently at the screen of his phone, focusing on the other two new Apps he received from the mysterious caller. One showed the image of a shadowy man lifting a massive boulder over his head while the other showed the image of a flying shadowy man with two wings coming out of his back. The young man wanted to tap one of the new Apps but he was afraid that both might backfire on him in some way like the first time he used the Overheat App. He soon decided against trying out one of the new Apps and tapped another one of the Apps he knew was safe.

**"Executing Eagle App!"** his phone announced.

Electricity surrounded his phone as the device resembled itself into the form of an eagle. The eagle-like device beeped again and again while it waited for one of its master's orders.

"It's so cute!"

Yukio jumped at the voice of his friend Shiho as she saw the eagle-like device in Yukio's hand. The device turned itself around to face Shiho and beeped at her while she sat down at the outside coffee shop table. The college girl watched the device continue to beep at her angrily with a wide smile.

"Is that another one of your phone Apps?" Shiho asked before taking a sip of her strawberry smoothie.

"It's called the Eagle App," Yukio answered. "I usually use it to search for any sign of a Virus but it isn't really that useful. So far, it only found the area where the Spider Virus fled to."

The device beeped louder at its master and flew away. Yukio assumed the device wanted to prove itself more useful to him by finding another Virus. He shrugged while Shiho watched the eagle-like device fly away.

"That phone of yours sure is amazing," Shiho said watching the device fly farther into the distance. "I haven't seen any other smartphone that looks like your phone. Did you build it yourself?"

Yukio took a moment before he answered. "...It flew to me a week after I decided to come to this city," he said.

Shiho took another sip of her drink. "So you have no idea who gave it to you?"

"All I know for sure is that the one gave me that phone knows my Mom," Yukio told the college girl. "Whoever this person is, he has knowledge about the Viruses and how to control them. It would be to my advantage to find this mysterious person and get information from him."

Shiho bit her lower lip as she scratched her ear.

"What's wrong?" the young man asked noticing Shiho's strange behavior.

The college girl mumbled her answer at a volume too low for the young man to hear. She finally managed to speak her mind after several tries.

"It's just the... way you talk sometimes," she answered still scratching her ear. "No offense but one minute you talk like a normal person but the next, you sort of talk like a computer would. All smart-like and such without any emotions."

Yukio tilted his head to the side. "I didn't notice," he replied.

Shiho pointed her finger at the young man. "Listen, you got talk like this..."

The college girl then spent the next hour teaching Yukio how to talk like a normal person. The young man listened to Shiho with much more interest than any student Shiho saw at the college. She gave the young man a smile while Seiji watched the scene at the coffee shop from his hiding place three tables away.

The detective sipped his coffee and continued to watch Shiho teach Yukio while his fingers hovered over the gun hidden against his waist.

...

Yukino made her way through the stacks of books piled up in random places around her brother Yukiteru's room. While the library was vast and had hundreds of bookcases, most of the books that belonged to her brother were in one massive pile with the young man resting on top of it with another novel in his hands. His eyes scanned each page in less than a second and by the time Yukino reached him, Yukiteru completed reading the novel and tossed it aside. Finished with his novel, the young man crossed his legs and turned his attention to his little sister while his hands adjusted the cartoonish pins stuck to his collar.

"Dad found out you used the Corruption program of your Virus," Yukino told her big brother. "He told us not to use our Virus forms unless we needed to."

"I don't care," Yukiteru replied taking out a tiny syringe from within his jacket. "I'm more concerned with who I should inject the Density Virus into. It's another problem Virus among my Knowledge Viruses. I know for a fact that anyone I inject it into will simply turn into an incredibly dense ball of blood and guts. Got to find a body compatible with this Virus..."

"Dad won't let you inject another human if all that's going to happen is Yukio defeating the Virus and turning the nano-machines into useless pieces of scrap metal," Yukino interrupted. She sighed as she continued talking to a brother who didn't bother to listen to her.

Yukiteru sighed with his sister. His hand turned into water and the young man watched as he made the water spin like a whirlpool.

"Do we have a mother?" Yukiteru whispered to himself, ignoring his sister talking below him.

The question Yukiteru had before still plagued his mind. No matter how much he dug into the files of the project that created him and his five siblings, he couldn't find a single female researcher. It was impossible for Yukio to consider anyone on the team to be his mother. Yukiteru knew that his father was the one who did most of the work in bringing them to life but no matter what he did to confirm it, he still felt that twinge of doubt. Something felt wrong about the project files he went through. There had to be something his father was hiding from his children but what was it?

Yukiteru's train of thought got interrupted by the fireball Yukino flung at the young man. Steam came off the android's body while he turned his focus back to his little sister.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Yukino asked. "Ever since Yukio defeated your Freeze Virus, you've been doing nothing but reading reports on past projects done by our father."

Yukiteru didn't want to tell his sister the real reason he'd been reading past project reports. He quickly came up with an excuse to tell her.

"I've been looking for a way to finish the Incomplete androids," he told the young woman. "It might have been an accident that created us but I'm sure I can recreate the process that gave us free will."

Yukino rolled her eyes and sighed. "Is that it? If Dad can't recreate the process, then neither can you," she said turning her back to her brother.

Yukiteru watched his sister walk away until she stopped at the room's exit. While she wasn't as smart as her big brother, Yukino was still observant enough to see through Yukiteru's lie. Lying to her normally angered the young woman but she was more curious why he decided to lie to her.

The young woman glanced behind her shoulder to see Yukiteru reading another report from the past.

"Just what are you looking for?" she whispered.

...

A male teenager wearing a baseball uniform wandered amongst the crowd of men and women that eagerly made their way through the baseball stadium towards their seats. The teen chewed on his fingernails while nervously shifting his eyes from one person to the next. He had no idea what he was doing at the stadium but the very tall man standing at his side did. The teen, however, did know what he would gain if he did what the man told him to do.

"Will I finally get to play baseball if I do this?"

"Don't worry," Yukimaru whispered to the one he infected with a Virus. "Just rampage here for a while and you can keep that new talent I gave you."

The teen still looked nervous but his mouth soon curved into a smile. Once Yukimaru saw the teen's smile, he snapped his fingers.

**"Baseball Virus Corruption Start..."**

Black energy exploded out of the teen's body and enveloped his body. An invisible force shaped the energy into a much larger form of the young man's body. Stitches formed all over the body created by the nano-machines. Once the transformation finished, the black energy was absorbed into the monsters body. The teen had transformed into a large monster whose body was made up entirely out of baseballs. It wore a baseball uniform for clothing with a pitcher's mitt on its left hand and a long wooden bat in the other hand.

"Go make some chaos!" Yukimaru ordered his Baseball Virus.

"Anything you say, coach!" the Virus laughed throwing its arms into the air.

The monster ran after the fleeing men and women. Its body broke apart into hundreds of bouncing baseballs that threw themselves at the screaming crowd. Men and women both yelled in pain as baseballs constantly struck them. No matter what they did, they could not stop the baseballs from hitting them over and over again.

Yukimaru watched the scene with a wide smile on his face. "That's it!" he yelled. "Your debut fight against my little brother is coming soon! Just keep those humans screaming until it catches his attention!"

The Virus followed its orders and continued to hurt the citizens. While the monster threw itself at the crowd, Yukio's phone witnessed the scene and confirmed that the monster was a Virus. It made loud beeps as it hurried back to the young man. Fortunately for the device, its master wasn't that far from the baseball stadium. It flew right in front of Yukio's face and beeped at him, interrupting his speech lesson from Shiho.

Yukio's expression suddenly turned serious. "It found a Virus!" he yelled sprinting in the direction where the Virus was located.

Shiho remained silent as she took a bill out of her purse and ran after the sprinting young man. She managed to follow right behind him this time around and was surprised to find that Yukio's phone had found a Virus at the nearby baseball stadium. The security guards didn't bother to stop the two from entering the stadium. They had their hands dealing with the baseballs hitting the spectators.

Shiho stopped the moment she saw the hundreds of baseballs throwing themselves at the screaming men and women.

"This has to be one of Yukimaru's Physical Viruses," Yukio said snatching his flying phone out of the air. The device made last beep before reassembling itself back into a smartphone. The young man hurried to tap on the icon of a belt on the phone's screen.

**"Executing Driver App!**" his phone announced.

A metal belt appeared around Yukio's waist. The young man snapped his smartphone into the belt's empty slot, causing the phone to release electricity and the icons on the screen to shake. Yukio threw his arms into the air while the electricity coming out of his phone grew in intensity.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"**

"Henshin!" he yelled swinging both his hands down to spin the wheel of icons on his phone's screen.

The baseballs stopped their assault on the spectators and gathered together to become the Baseball Virus. The monster watched as a wheel of electricity spun around Yukio's body, blasting his body with bolts of electricity that equipped him with the Vitaz suit. Golden circuits formed in the fabric of the suit while one last blast of electricity formed the helmet over Yukio's head. The transformation ended with the young man tossing aside his gold and silver scarf, releasing a powerful gust of wind.

Yukio pointed at the monster.

"I'll show-"

Yukimaru's fist struck Yukio's helmet, sending the young man crashing into a popcorn stand. Yukio burned the buttery popcorn off his suit and struggled to get back on his feet. His eyes turned to see his big brother smiling at him, his fist covered in shiny metal.

"Long time no see, Yukio!" Yukimaru yelled bashing his metal fists together.

"Yukimaru," Yukio whispered as Shiho ran to his side and helped him stand up.

Yukimaru turned his head to his Baseball Virus. "This is your debut fight!" he yelled at the monster. "Go and make me proud!"

"Yes, coach!" the Baseball Virus yelled.

Yukimaru laughed as he disappeared from sight while his Virus charged at Yukio. Shiho got out of the way the moment the monster swung its bat at the young man. Yukio grabbed the bat before it could hit him and kept a tight grip on the weapon while his other fist punched the monster's side several times. To the young man's surprise, his punches had no effect on the Baseball Virus. The monster simply laughed at him and broke apart into hundreds of baseballs.

Yukio let out a few pained yells as the baseballs threw themselves at his body. He was forced to run away but the baseballs bounced after him. The young man ran out into the baseball field, interrupting the game that was currently being played. The confused audience and players watched Yukio being struck by hundreds of baseballs. It wasn't until the baseballs gathered together to reform the Baseball Virus that the audience and the players begun to panic. They ran towards the exits while the monster struck Yukio over and over with its bat. Soon, the stands were left empty and so was the baseball field. The only people at the baseball stadium were the monster, Yukio, Shiho, Seiji, and the remaining security guards wondering if they should intervene in the fight between the young man and the Virus.

"I'm going to play!" the monster yelled breaking apart into hundreds of baseballs again.

Now that the two were fighting in a wider area, the baseballs surrounded the young man and began throwing themselves at him again. While each hit didn't do much, being hit hundreds of times by a baseball was starting to damage Yukio. The young man punched the baseballs but there were too many to get rid of them with only punches.

"Now, this is a show!" Yukimaru yelled from the audience stands. "Keep up the attack, my Baseball Virus! Yukio is forced to be on the defensive! Whittle down his stamina until it's time to strike!"

The baseballs gathered enough of itself to reform the monster's arm with a bat in its hand. The disembodied arm struck the young man with its bat while the other baseballs pelted him.

"Enough of this!" Yukio yelled spinning the wheel of icons on his phone's screen.

He didn't hesitate to tap on the Overheat App.

**"DANGER! OVERHEAT APP!"** A deep and menacing male's voice yelled from Yukio's phone.

Yukio shouted as a wave of heat exploded out of his body. The baseballs around him were set aflame by the heat and each one hurried to reform the monster's body before they burned into ashes. The flames disappeared when the Virus reappeared but the heat coming from Yukio was still a danger.

**"DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!"** his phone continued to yell.

"What the hell!?" Yukimaru yelled feeling the heat radiating from Yukio. "This heat is just like the Fire Virus! How could you hide such a trump card from me!?"

Everyone kept their eyes on the shouting Yukio and were surprised even more when his suit started to glow brightly with a crimson light. The light grew stronger and stronger until it was too bright to look at for the human Shiho and Seiji.

**"VITAZ OVERHEAT FORM!"**

Yukio released one last shout and his suit exploded. Shiho gasped the moment she saw the new appearance of Yukio's Vitaz suit after the smoke cleared away.

"Wow..." she whispered in awe of Yukio's Vitaz Overheat form.

"This is cheating, Yukio!" Yukimaru yelled pointing at his little brother. "That is the power of the Fire Virus! It's not supposed to be your power!"

"This isn't a game, Yukimaru!" Yukio yelled back. "There are no rules in fighting!"

Yukimaru stomped his foot into the floor. "There are rules for a fight between men! You never play fair, Yukio!" he screamed continuing to stomp the floor.

The young man sighed. "I always played by the rules," he told his big brother. "The problem with playing a no-brain guy like you is that you keep adding more stupid rules!"

Yukimaru jumped down from the stands. His feet sunk into the ground the moment his body landed on the baseball field. Tiny spikes made out of metal erupted out of his back while piles of dirt fell out of his jacket's sleeves.

The man turned to his Virus. "Time to switch! I'll be taking your place!" he yelled at the monster.

The Baseball Virus nodded at its master and spun around. It instantly started running away from the fight while Yukimaru stomped the ground on his way towards his brother. Yukio fired beams of heat at the monster but each beam missed and burned the grass. Shiho ran after the monster with the goal of finding out its human identity, forcing Seiji to abandon his job of following Yukio to follow her.

Yukimaru announced his transformation, bashing his fists together again and again.

"Earth Virus Corruption Start!"

Liquid metal and large amounts of dirt mixed with rocks shot out of Yukimaru's mouth, enveloping him in a shell of metal and dirt. The minerals and metal were shaped into a massive human-like shape. Yukimaru's body transformed into a large body of dirt and rocks while plates of shining metal covered his chest, head, and limbs like pieces of armor. The transformation into a Virus ended when two bright lights appeared from where his eye sockets should be. Once fully transformed, Yukimaru bashed his fists of metal and rock together, releasing a powerful shockwave that destroyed the grass around him.

"Round one! Begin!" Yukimaru yelled, his voice sounding like a mix between a computerized voice and his normal voice.

Yukio readied himself the moment Yukimaru charged at him with a stance like a football's linebacker. The transformed man started slow but gained speed with every step forward. Soon, He was charging towards Yukio like a massive train crushing everything in its path.

Heat blasted out of the pipes on Yukio's shoulders. The young man sent the signal to the pipes to rotate themselves around his shoulder to face his big brother. Once the pipes were in place, Yukio fired more beams of heat at the charging Virus. Each beam struck Yukimaru but did no damage on his hard body.

"The power of the Fire Virus has no effect on me, brother!" Yukimaru laughed ignoring the beams of heat that struck him.

The young man was forced to jump out of the way of his brother's path, letting him crash into the safety fence behind home base. Yukimaru tore the ruined fence off his body and turned to face his little brother. Once again, he bashed his fists together.

"Hard as a diamond and strong enough to tear through any metal, this is the power of the Earth Virus!" He yelled continuing to bash his fists together.

"Not very impressive if all you got is power that can only travel in a straight line," Yukio said placing his hands over the pipes extending out of his shoulders.

Yukimaru stumbled at the insult his brother gave him. The massive man recovered quickly and swung his huge fists into the earth below him. His whole fist went into the earth, as if it were like mud, and remained there. For a second, Yukio wondered what his big brother was doing but found out when Yukimaru's hands erupted out of the ground below him. His hand grabbed onto Yukio's ankles and made him unable to move while Yukimaru charged at him again.

To Yukimaru's surprise, his little brother pushed the pipes coming out of his shoulders back inside his body. Heat built up inside his body with no way of exiting until Yukio tapped a icon on his phone's screen.

**"Executing Overcharge App!"** his phone announced in its normal computerized voice.

Electricity and heat exploded out of Yukio's body and traveled through his circuits to gather inside his chest. Once it gathered there, Yukio used some of the electricity. Using the electricity, Yukio made the huge barrel of a cannon come out of his chest.

"What the hell!?" was the only thing Yukimaru could say.

Yukio focused the energy gathered in his chest into the cannon. A bright crimson light shined from within the weapon and the light only grew in intensity as Yukio focused more of his energy into the cannon. Yukimaru knew getting hit by what was forming inside the cannon would injure him but he was moving too fast to be able to change directions. He was forced to take the full brunt of Yukio's finishing move.

Yukio readied his body for the final attack.

"Blazing Bolt of Lightning!"

A bolt of lightning mixed with an inferno of flames blasted out of Yukio's cannon. The beam of lightning and fire incinerated the grass underneath it as it shot through the air. Yukimaru molded more metal over his body and braced himself when the beam struck his body of metal and rock. Lightning and flames pierced right through his metal armor and blasted the massive man off the ground. The beam carried his heavy body across the baseball field and slammed him into the audience stands behind the home base. With nowhere else to carry him to, the beam of lightning and fire exploded around Yukimaru, incinerating the nearby seats.

Yukio let out a breath of relief as the hands holding his ankles fell apart and turned back into harmless dirt. The cannon coming out of his chest disappeared and the two pipes reappeared out of his shoulders. He still remained transformed, keeping his eyes on the cloud of black smoke surrounding his brother.

"That hurt..."

Yukio jumped into a fighting stance the moment he saw his still transformed brother walk out of the cloud of smoke. Every piece of metal on Yukimaru's body was melted by his attack but the earth body underneath remained unscratched.

"How are you still standing?" Yukio whispered not believing that his finishing attack had little effect on his big brother.

Yukimaru jumped off the stands and landed back on the still burning baseball field below. His weight made him sink into the ground but the transformed man began taking slow steps towards his younger brother. While he walked, the molten metal covering him was absorbed back and used to reform the metal armor onto his body. Dirt and metal came out of the stumps at the end of Yukimaru's arms and reformed into his fists.

Once his fists were restored, the android bashed them together again and gave a intimidating stare to Yukio.

"Round two! Begin!"

...

Shiho panted heavily as she chased after the fleeing Baseball Virus. She had to remain out of the monster's line of sight and found it hard to both chase it and not catch the monster's attention. Her efforts, however, paid off when she followed the monster to an abandoned factory. The young woman watched the Virus from behind a stack of rotting wooden boxes and had to stop herself from gasping when black energy exploded out of the monster's body. She continued to watch as the energy reverted the monster back into a very tired-looking teenager in a baseball uniform.

"So, he's the Virus," she whispered.

Shiho took a step back but her foot stepped on a wooden plank, causing her to release a very audible scream as she fell on her behind. The college girl instantly covered her mouth, knowing for a fact that the teen infected with the Baseball Virus heard her scream.

"Who's there?" the teen yelled in the direction he heard the girl's scream.

Knowing what would happen to him if anyone found out about his Baseball Virus, the teen picked up a long iron rod off the ground and took a step towards the direction he heard the girl's scream.

Shiho trembled behind the rotting boxes while the teen advanced towards her hiding place.

_To Be Continued..._


	8. Episode 8: Dirty Homerun part 2

"What are you doing here, kid?"

The teen jumped at the sound of Seiji's voice and quickly threw the iron bar aside. He spun around to see a man flashing his detective's badge at him. Shiho let out a breath of relief as Seiji opened his mouth to speak to the teen.

"This area is off-limits to everyone but the construction crew," Seiji told the teen. "I have to ask you to leave the premises before I'm forced to bring you to the nearest police station."

The teen bit his lip and fled. Seiji watched the teen run away until he disappeared from sight. Once the person infected with the Baseball Virus had disappeared, Shiho came out of her hiding place.

"I'm so glad you came, Seiji-san," Shiho said giving the detective a bow.

Seiji returned her bow with a smile. "I just saw you chasing after something and went to check it out," he lied.

Shiho looked in the direction where the teen had disappeared. An idea came to her mind a second later.

The college girl grabbed the detective's sleeve and pulled.

"We got to find out who that kid is!" Shiho told Seiji while she hurried to find information on the teen infected with the Baseball Virus.

….

"Brothers locked in a exciting battle of power! Adrenaline pumping and sweat pouring out of handsome men! Wouldn't you ladies love to continue watching? Too bad I have to break it up!"

The voice of their sister forced the brothers to turn their heads towards the direction of her voice. Yukio was surprised to see his big sister Yukiko dancing in the stands with a new Virus of her own. Both Yukiko and her Virus were dressed in a green cheerleading uniform with pom-poms of the same color shaking in their hands. The Virus' body was made out of shiny metal in the shape of a curvy female's body with its face being just a blank slate. Yukiko's Virus danced with the lively young woman while she spoke to her brothers.

"It's been so long since I saw my baby brother!" Yukiko yelled swinging her leg over her head with the Virus copying her movements. She studied Yukio's Overheat form with a cat-like curiosity in her eyes. "Looks like Yukio has somehow obtained the power of the Fire Virus but it's no match for Yukimaru's Earth Virus. Lucky for you, I have to bring Yukimaru back to Daddy with me. Urgent orders, you see..."

"Fight my Cheerleader Virus instead!"

Yukiko's Virus stopped dancing with her and immediately jumped at Yukio. The monster landed right next to the young man, kicking him in the side the moment she landed. Yukio was surprised by the strength of the Virus' kick but recovered quick enough to release a wave of heat around him. The wave of heat blasted the monster off her feet but the strings it's pom-poms were made of extended and wrapped themselves around Yukio's wrists. The strings were unaffected by the heat coming off of Yukio's suit and helped the Virus to continue her attack on the young man.

While her Virus distracted Yukio, Yukiko ran over to her brother and spun her whole body, creating a powerful twister around the two. Once the twister disappeared, Yukio's sibling were no longer there. The two had escaped and left Yukio behind to fight with the Cheerleader Virus.

"I'm the supporting type so this is kind of fight is not my forte," The Virus said despite not having a mouth. "I'll be leaving for now, pretty boy!"

The Cheerleader Virus gave Yukio a wave of her pom-poms before leaping into the sky. Yukio watched the monster flee the baseball stadium and disappear from sight like his brother and sister. Once he was sure there was no more danger, Yukio popped his smartphone out of his belt, undoing his transformation in a flash of light. Once he returned to normal, the young man noticed the security running out of their hiding places in order to catch him.

"I got to escape too," Yukio said instantly sprinting away from the stadium's security.

...

The young man escaped the stadium's security and continued to sprint across the city until he reached Seiji's apartment. Yukio opened the door, only to find an exhausted Seiji lying down on his couch while an excited Shiho walked circles around the apartment waiting for the android to come. Once she saw Yukio at the door, Shiho ran over to him and shoved several papers into his chest.

"We found out the real identity of the Baseball Virus!" Shiho yelled proudly.

"I'm the one who did all the work," Seiji moaned.

"Don't mind him, he's speaking nonsense," Shiho hurried to say. "Anyway, we found out the name of the kid infected with the Baseball Virus. It's Makoto Yamote, a sixteen year-old at a local high school. He's on the school's baseball team and apparently for the last year, he's been on the bench for every game his team's played..."

Yukio flipped through the documents given to him. "Finished," he said giving the papers back to Shiho before she could tell him more information on the Baseball Virus' human identity.

"You already finished reading all this?" She asked staring at the stack of papers in her hands.

"I have all the information I need in order to locate the Virus without needing a signal-"

Shiho interrupted the young man and smacked his cheek with a closed paper fan. "Remember the talk we had today? Stop talking like a robot," she said looking ready to hit Yukio with the paper fan again.

"Sorry, force of habit," Yukio said rubbing his cheek.

The young man continued talking once he saw Shiho gestured him to finish telling them how he knew where to find the infected teen. "I found out where we can find the Baseball Virus but it has to be tomorrow," he said.

"Tomorrow, he'll be at the team practice," Seiji said. "That's when you're going to confront the kid, right?"

"Correct, Seiji-san," Yukio said pointing and smiling at the detective.

"Any idea what you're going to say when you're face-to-face with the kid?" Shiho asked.

Yukio's smile disappeared.

"Not a clue."

...

Yukio spent the night replenishing the energy he lost in the fight with the Baseball Virus and when he was fully charged the next morning, he left the apartment to find the teen infected with the Virus. The young man traveled across the city until he reached the high school where the teen went to. School had already ended by the time Yukio got there and he found the baseball team out running circles around the school building. His eyes immediately found the signal of the Baseball Virus surrounding every one of the baseball team's members. Yukio figured the signal must have spread from the equipment the infected teen had touched.

Yukio, however, couldn't find Makoto Yamote among the baseball team members. The young man ran up to one of the members and asked for his location while running with the student.

"What do you want with that bastard?" the baseball team member replied angrily.

The student's reaction to the mention of Makoto's name took Yukio by surprise. "I'm merely looking for him," he answered. "He needs my help."

The student laughed at his answer. "Help? Makoto doesn't need anybody's help now," he laughed. "Just because he suddenly showed some talent a few days ago and hooked up with captain of the cheerleading squad, he thinks he can put aside training with the rest of us."

Yukio knew what the student meant when Makoto had suddenly showed talent at playing at baseball. His older brother Yukimaru's Physical Viruses had that effect on those it infected. Overnight, they suddenly become far more athletic and talented at the sport it was programmed with. The Physical Viruses also gave the effect of increasing the ego of the person it infected to dangerous levels. Yukio had to find the teen infected with the Baseball Virus before he hurt someone due to his elevated feelings of grandeur.

"Do you know where I can find him?" Yukio asked.

"He's in the gym shed over there," the student told him pointing to a rectangular shed in the distance. "I want to see the look on his face when you surprise them but I have to keep training..."

The student laughed at the thought of Makoto's future embarrassment and ran ahead. Yukio thanked the student for the information and hurried over to the shed. He tried to open the shed's door but the handle wouldn't move. It felt like the door was both locked and had something jammed against it on the other side. No human could have gotten past that door but Yukio wasn't human.

The android simply ripped the door off its hinges and threw it aside.

A high school girl screamed at the sudden intrusion and appearance of Yukio at where the shed's door used to be. Yukio stared at the two embarrassed high school students hurry to fix their messy appearances. The young man's eyes turned to Makoto Yamote, who hurried to put the baseball uniform's shirt back on. His eyes then turned to the abnormally beautiful high school girl wearing a green cheerleader uniform who tried to fix her messy and dyed blond hair. They both had their eyes locked on Yukio.

"Ever heard of privacy!?" The girl screamed at Yukio.

"What are you doing here?" Makoto yelled at the young man, recognizing him immediately.

"Let me cure you," Yukio told the teen. "The talent the Physical Virus gave you might seem great at first but the side-effects will make you regret it. It hasn't been a week so you shouldn't be having any of the Physical Virus symptoms yet. Let me cure you before anything happens to you because of my brother's Virus."

Makoto laughed at Yukio's offer to cure his Virus. To his surprise, the girl also laughed at him.

"As if I would give up this talent," Makoto said. "I finally have the chance to play in a game and I won't let anything get in my way!"

**"Baseball Virus Corruption Start..."**

Yukio felt the signal of Makoto's Virus activating and witnessed the teen's transformation back into the Baseball Virus. Once the black energy was absorbed into the monster's body, the Baseball Virus swung its bat over and over again while it spoke.

"Once I get rid of you, I'll keep this talent for the rest of my life!" the Baseball Virus yelled at Yukio.

A baseball popped out of the monster's arm. The Virus swung its bat and struck the baseball, sending it shooting towards the young man. The Baseball blasted through Yukio's shoulder, severing his left arm. Silver blood poured out of his wound.

"Keep it up, baby! Defeat that machine!" Makoto's girlfriend Yayoi cheered. She took out green pom-poms and shook them while she continued cheering on her boyfriend. "Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"

**"Cheerleader Virus Corruption Start..."**

To Yukio's surprise, black energy exploded out of Yayoi's body and transformed the young girl into the monster that attacked him after the Baseball Virus escaped yesterday. Once she became the Cheerleader Virus, she continued to cheer on the other Virus. While she cheered, black energy surged out from within the Baseball Virus' body, increasing its strength.

"Two Viruses again?" Yukio said seeing the two monsters in front of him.

The Baseball Virus popped out another baseball to hit with his bat. This time around, Yukio rolled out of the baseball's path, letting it lodge itself into the school's wall behind him. The young man picked up his arm and placed it back where it used to be. It took a while for his nano-machines to reattach the severed arm. Once his arm was reattached to his body, the young man took out his smartphone.

**"Executing Driver App!"** his phone announced after Yukio tapped the belt icon.

A metal belt appeared around Yukio's waist in a flash of light and electricity. Yukio then snapped his smartphone into the belt's empty slot.

"Attack! Hit him before he transforms!" The Cheerleader Virus cheered.

The Baseball Virus listened to its girlfriend and charged at Yukio before he transformed into Kamen Rider Vitaz. His whole body separated and turned into hundreds of baseballs that threw themselves at Yukio.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"**

None of the baseballs touched Yukio as a wheel of electricity spun around his body in a perfect orb. Bolts of lightning struck the young man's body and created the Vitaz suit over his body. Golden circuits formed in the fabric of the suit while one last bolt created the helmet with insect eyes over Yukio's head. The transformation ended when Yukio tossed his silver and gold scarf aside, creating a powerful burst of wind that scattered the baseballs surrounding him.

The baseballs gathered together next to the Cheerleader Virus and turned back into the Baseball Virus.

"I'll show you..." Yukio said lifting his hand to point at the two Viruses.

"You need my help!"

Yukio slapped his hands together and when he parted them, a powerful arc of electricity appeared between his hands. The young man threw the bolt of electricity at the Baseball Virus but the monster dodged. His electricity struck the bag of soccer balls behind the monster, lighting it on fire.

The Cheerleader Virus panicked at the sight of the fire. "Get out! Get out! Get out before we burn!" she screamed running towards the exit.

The monster pointed her pom-poms at Yukio, making the strings extend towards the young man. The pom-pom strings wrapped themselves around Yukio's limb but this time around, the young man was prepared. He let out a loud shout as he grabbed as much strings in his hand as possible and released a powerful current into them. Electricity coursed through the metal strings and into the Cheerleader Virus' body. She screamed while she was being electrocuted by Yukio.

"Let's take this outside!" Yukio yelled pulling on the strings.

Yukio swung the strings over his head and used them to throw the Cheerleader Virus out of the shed and into the air. She continued to scream while she flailed her limbs around uselessly in the air.

"Watch out for the star player!" The Baseball Virus yelled.

Yukio turned his attention back to the other monster. Almost immediately, he was greeted in the face with the wood of the monster's baseball bat. His body bounced across the field of grass until he rolled to a stop. The young man quickly jumped back to his feet. Yukio's nano-machines quickly repaired the cracks in the helmet made by the monster's bat.

The Baseball Virus caught the Cheerleader Virus before she hit the ground. She laughed as she resumed cheering for her boyfriend, increasing his strength with her special ability. Both of the monsters made their way towards the young man. The Cheerleader Virus skipped and shook her pom-poms while the Baseball Virus marched forward.

"I want to play in a game!" The Baseball Virus yelled at Yukio. "I won't let you take this chance from me!"

...

Yukimaru stood on top of the high school's roof, watching the battle between his and his sister's Viruses against Yukio. Several scorch marks were still smoking on the young man's face and chest. The battle he had with his little brother was more damaging than he thought it would be. It is only now that the young man knows that taking the full force of Yukio's strongest attack was a bad idea. He ignored the pain signals his nano-machines were sending to his brain and continued to watch the battle on the field below.

"Daddy gave you a scolding!" Yukiko laughed appearing at her brother's side.

"Shut up," Yukimaru mumbled covering the upper half of his face with his student cap.

"Our Virus forms are only supposed to be used to protect Daddy or unless we're in danger of being destroyed," Yukiko informed Yukimaru. "We can't make the same mistake as Yukiteru, big brother. We have to prove our beauty and brawn is better than his useless brains."

"I know," the young man whispered refusing to show his face.

"Let our Viruses take care of Yukio," she said turning her eyes to the battle below.

Her smile, however, disappeared the moment the young woman saw that her Cheerleader Virus was being beaten easily by Yukio. Her Virus tried to help out the Baseball Virus by trapping the young man with her pom-pom strings but each time she tried to grab him, Yukio sent a powerful current of electricity through her strings and into her body. Her Virus was forced to stay on the side, powering up the Baseball Virus with her cheering. It wasn't the two-on-one battle she thought it would be. She was surprised that the battle was more a one-on-one battle with her Virus unable to do anything but cheer on Yukimaru's Virus.

"Don't do anything you'll regret, Yukiko," Yukimaru said grinning.

The young woman took a step away from the roof's ledge.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied.

...

The Baseball Virus fired another baseball at Yukio, who simply spun out of its path. It shot through the air until the baseball crashed into the school building. A few screams came from the students but they continued to watch the battle from a somewhat safe distance inside the building. They watched the Cheerleader Virus try her best to help out the Baseball Virus and only got electrocuted as a result. She continued to cheer on the other Virus, increasing its strength, while it fought Yukio.

"I want to help you, Makoto-san!" Yukio told the Virus spinning out of the path of another baseball. "Whatever my older brother told you, it's all lies!"

"Shut up!" the Baseball Virus yelled swinging its bat at Yukio's head and missing. It continued to yell as it swung its weapon at the young man and missing each time.

"I want to play in a game! You have no idea what it's like to be on the bench for a whole year! Practicing more than any other member and still not getting the chance to play! You can't understand how to feels to watch everyone play but you!"

"I won't pretend to understand," Yukio replied jumping away from the Virus. "I don't understand a lot of subjects that most humans find easy to understand and this isn't an exception."

Yukio snapped his arm forward to point at the Baseball Virus.

"But my mother taught me that the easy path is never the right path! You will never be satisfied if you take the easy path and continue to use my brother's Physical Virus!"

Yukio's words struck a sensitive spot for the Baseball Virus. The monster yelled at the top of its lungs and separated into hundreds of baseballs that threw themselves at Yukio. Each ball bounced off the young man's body, causing pain signals to shoot up into Yukio's brain with every hit. Yukio tried to use the Overheat App but the Baseball Virus learned it lesson this time around. It focused its flurry of attacks around the young man's waist, preventing his hand from getting close to his smartphone. The monster continued to beat Yukio with the hundreds of baseballs, the young man unable to fight back.

"That's it, sweety!" the Cheerleader Virus cheered. "Keep up the offensive! You can win!"

"Once I kill you, I'm going to keep this talent forever," the Baseball Virus' voice said from each of the baseballs hitting Yukio. "So stop resisting and let me kill you!"

Almost immediately, a burst of electricity erupted out of Yukio's body. The electricity pushed back the baseballs enough to allow Yukio enough to time to tap the first icon on his smartphone's screen.

**"Executing Magnetism App!"** his phone announced in its usual computerized female voice.

Electricity circled around the young man's body but none of the energy attacked the baseballs. Instead, several pieces of nearby metal such as discarded cans and lost change levitated off the ground and stuck themselves to Yukio's magnetized body.

"What the hell is that?" the Baseball Virus laughed. "How is becoming a giant magnet going to help you?"

The Baseball Virus resumed attacking Yukio by throwing the hundreds of baseballs that made up its body at him. Yukio offered no resistance and allowed the baseballs to strike him over and over again while more metallic objects from farther away stuck themselves to his Vitaz suit. Every baseball that made up the Baseball Virus' body had each come into contact with Yukio's body. Once the young man knew each baseball touched him, he released a loud shout.

The two monsters then were surprised when every baseball that touched Yukio's body had begun to stick to each other. The baseballs were sticking to one another against the Baseball Virus' will. Soon, the monster had its body forcefully put back together.

"What did you do?" The Baseball Virus yelled looking at its body. It tried to separate its body again but a powerful force kept the monster in one piece. "I can't use my powers!"

"Simple really," Yukio answered waving a finger at the monster. "I just gave each of the baseballs an magnetic charge when they came into contact with me. Once I did that, I shut off my own magnetism and allowed the charge I gave your baseballs pull each other together."

"But... that's impossible," the Baseball Virus whispered. "I'm not made of anything magnetic."

"Your blood is!" Yukio pointed out to the Virus. "The nano-machine blood running through every part of your body is far more magnetic than a normal human's blood."

Yukio took advantage of the monster's surprise and tapped two different icons on his phone's screen. His phone announced both choices together.

**"Executing Drill App!"**

**"Executing Overcharge App!"**

Yukio leapt into the sky, electricity exploding out of his Vitaz suit. The electricity coming out of his body gathered around his right foot and created the image of a drill. The drill spun fiercely, releasing arcs of electricity around Yukio while the young man fell. Yukio aimed the drill at the Baseball Virus and fired arcs of electricity out of his back to propel his body towards the monster.

"Lightning Rider Drill Kick!" Yukio shouted.

The Baseball Virus spun around and tried to run away but the young man was too fast. His body and drill shot pierced the air and went straight through the monster's body. Yukio's drill dug into the dirt a bit before disappearing. Yukio spun around and saw the monster fall to its knees with a huge hole releasing sparks of electricity where its torso used to be. The young man's electricity coursed through the Virus' blood, forcing the nano-machine to turn the monster back into a teen in a large explosion of energy. Once Makoto had turned back to normal, Yukio gave the unconscious teen's body a harmless shock, rendering the nano-machines in his blood useless.

"Uhhhh..." The Cheerleader tried to speak but the sight of Makoto's defeat and unconscious body kept the words from forming.

Yukio turned his head to the Cheerleader Virus and said. "Your turn."

"Screw this! I only went out with that guy because my Mistress told me to!" the Cheerleader Virus yelled fleeing the school grounds.

Once the monster fled, the school behind Yukio erupted in cheering. The young man turned around to see the students that watched his battle all celebrating his victory. They took pictures of the hero and continued to cheer.

"I wanted others to cheer me on like that," Makoto whispered.

The voice of the teen caused Yukio to turn his attention back to the defeated Makoto, who remained lying on the ground. He continued to speak while his face laid against the dirt.

"I fantasized being the star player and being praised just like you are now," Makoto told the young man. "I was finally going to make that fantasy a reality thanks to the talent he gave me. I was going to play my first game and show everyone how talented I am."

Yukio pulled his smartphone out of his belt, causing his transformation to undo itself in a flash of electricity and light.

"It would have been meaningless if you attained your dream like that," Yukio told the teen. "You can't just take the easy path when its presented to you. My brother's Physical Viruses can give you the strength and talent to achieve whatever dream you have but I have only one question to ask you..."

"Would it have been worth it?"

Yukio's words finally got through to the teen as he began to bang his fist against the ground while he wept. Once he saw the teen's reaction, he decided to follow after the Cheerleader Virus. Makoto would be alright but he had to cure the Cheerleader Virus before anything happened because of her.

Yukio, however, felt the Cheerleader Virus' signal disappear abruptly. A Virus' signal never disappears as quickly as the Cheerleader Virus' signal did.

Not unless something else forcefully stopped the signal.

"What happened to that Virus?" he asked.

...

A few minutes earlier...

The Cheerleader Virus ran and ran until she finally got far enough to be considered safe from Yukio. Once she was safe, the Cheerleader Virus rested her body against a pile of steel beams inside the factory. Despite not having a mouth, the Cheerleader Virus kept taking deep breaths.

"I can't lose this power," the monster said looking at her metal skin. "I'm finally beautiful thanks to this Virus. I won't let anyone take this away from me..."

"Are you sure you're alright?" a man's voice asked the Cheerleader Virus.

The monster jumped at the voice of a young man and spun around towards the direction the man's voice came from. Standing at the entrance to the factory, a shadowy man wearing a strange doctor's coat stared at the Cheerleader Virus through his white helmet's insect-like eyes. A white metal belt with a metallic snake wrapped around it glowed from its place on the young man's waist.

"Who are you!?" the Cheerleader Virus screamed at her surprise visitor.

The strange man lifted up his sleek white arms in a pose like that of a surgeon prepared for surgery.

"Don't worry," he told the monster.

"Syringe!" the man said to his belt.

**"Yes, Doctor!"** the belt announced in a high-pitched female's voice.

The Cheerleader Virus screamed as the strange man pierced her body with the tip of the huge syringe that came out of his wrist.

"I'll be the cure for your disease..."

_End of 'Dirty Homerun'_


	9. Episode 9: The Doctor Is In

Yukio, once again, found himself being brought to a unknown place by the three girls. Usually, the three college girls bring the young man with them to hang out or to take advantage of his strong body but this time, their reasons were different. Yukio followed the three college girls to a large three story stone building with the sign outside saying the building belonged to 'Setsuya Robotics Labs'.

"So this is where you're cousin works?" Shiho asked her friend Aki.

"Yeah, I almost forgot that coward is a robotics expert," Aki answered without bothering to take a look at the building like her other two friends. "Honestly, I don't think we'll learn anything from Hiroto."

"He can help us find out more about Yukio, can't he?" Hana said following her friend with Shiho. "Why does it matter if he's a coward or not?"

"The last time I met Hiroto, he couldn't speak at all until I left the room," Shiho told Hana while the glass doors of the building slid open automatically.

"So he's scared of girls, huh?" Hana sighed.

"That's right," Aki said crossing her arms.

The three college girls sighed together, making Yukio wonder why they were sighing together while the four entered the building. A small ring of a bell echoed throughout the lobby they entered. Aki walked up to the security guard sitting at the lab's entrance and the other four sat down together in the waiting area. Shiho and Hana talked to each other about the fashion magazine Hana held, leaving Yukio to look around. The young man noticed that there was another young man sitting down with them at the waiting area.

The young man looked about the same age as Yukio and wore a paint-stained shirt with jeans that were equally stained with paint. He had a rainbow-colored bandana over his head, covering his head that looked like it had been shaven some time ago and the black roots of hair were starting to grow back. His eyes had dark shadows underneath them, as if he didn't sleep for some time. He noticed Yukio staring at him and turned his gaze towards the android.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked in an annoyed voice.

"Other than the unusual amount of oil I see on your skin, there is nothing worth your atten-"

Shiho elbowed Yukio in the side after noticing how he was starting to talk like a machine again.

"No, dude," he said sounding uncomfortable.

The strange man turned his head away. "Then stop looking at me," he said pulling his bandana over his eyes.

Aki came over to the three and tossed to them their visitor badges. Yukio, Hana, and Shiho pinned their visitor badges to their shirts and followed their friend through the door behind the security guard. The four walked past several doors, every one Yukio stopped to take a look inside. What he saw were thousands of wires and robot parts that were all primitive compared to the technology that built him. He was still interested in the robots and the process that created them.

"Here we are," Aki said stopping at the lab door at the end of the hallway. "My cousin's own personal lab. Watch out though...

Aki grabbed the handle of the door and stepped as far away from the door as possible while still keeping her hand on the handle. Turning the handle, Aki flung the door open and dove out of the way as a large amount of water splashed on the spot where any normal person would have been if they opened the door.

"The guy likes traps just as much as these robots," Aki said stepping into the puddle of water.

"Is that you, Aki? Nobody but you knows how to evade those traps," a man's voice said from within the lab.

"Years of experience," Aki laughed walking past several other traps.

Aki's cousin Hiroto came out from underneath one of the desks in the lab. He resembled Aki in a few traits, such as his messy brown hair and gray eyes. Other than that, he looked like a young man in a lab coat who spent all his time inside. Pale skin, dark rings around his eyes, and a scrawny build described the young man. He looked happy to see his cousin but the moment he saw Shiho and Hana, he immediately dove back underneath his desk.

"He's really scared of us," Hana said to Shiho.

Shiho tilted her head to the side. "He is, huh?" she replied.

Aki slapped Yukio's arm and pointed at the desk her cousin hid under. "Pick up the desk, Yukio," she ordered.

Yukio gave his friend a nod and walked over to the desk Hiroto hid under. He lifted the desk into the air with little effort, surprising the young man. He stared at Yukio above him, the young man carrying a thick wooden desk over his head with only one hand.

"Hello, my name's Yukio Kikaido," He told Hiroto.

Hiroto waved his hand at the android, forcing himself to give him a nervous smile.

...

Inside a spacious sewer pipe underground, there was a large amount of unusually clean water traveling through the pipe. Once the water reached its destination, it rose up and formed the shape of a young man. The water solidified and changed colors until Yukiteru appeared. The android went through the layout of the area in his hard-drive and concluded that he was in the right place.

Yukiteru stabbed a rod of iron into the sewer pipe above his head. He pressed a button on the rod, making it release a pinging sound every few seconds. "This should tell the Incompletes where to go," he said. His finger then pressed on the device attached to his ear. "Yukino, is the Mole Virus ready yet?"

"Not yet," his sister's voice replied. "He still needs more time to get used to the sunlight."

"Hurry it up," Yukiteru said. "You owe me for using one of your Viruses to infect someone."

"I know, idiot," Yukino said.

Yukiteru ended the conversation and turned his attention back to the rod above him.

"I need that file," he whispered to himself.

...

Once Shiho and Hana left the room, Hiroto's been able to converse with the other two. He studied Yukio's body with great interest. While Aki couldn't tell the difference, her cousin could tell that Yukio wasn't human and instead was a android built by humans. He stared with great interest at the golden circuit-like veins underneath the skin of Yukio's face while the android sat down on a rotating chair.

"Incredible," he whispered while adjusting his glasses. "So you're really an android?"

"Yes, my mother built me two and a half years ago," Yukio told the man.

"Mother?" Hiroto responded looking surprised. "Just your mother? No team of researchers?"

"There were others who helped but my Mom was the one who did all the work," Yukio answered.

"The technology that went to making you is decades ahead everything here," Hiroto told the two. "Not only are you able to move without any outside input, you can move just like a human can, maybe even better. This mother of yours must be a genius to have created an android so much like a human. Mind telling me the name of your mother?"

"Yuki Kikaido," Yukio answered.

"Name ring any bells?" Aki asked her cousin.

Hiroto shook his head. "I heard of a woman with the name of Kikaido but instead of being a genius, I only heard she went insane and got herself killed by a faulty robot she built."

"That's a lie Dad made up!"

Hiroto and Aki jumped at the sudden yell Yukio released. It was more emotion than Aki saw come from him for a while. The burst of emotion, however, made her cousin grin widely.

"Dad killed Mom and erased every trace of her work!" Yukio yelled. "Mom refused to let her children be used as weapons and Dad killed her for it. It's his fault my brothers and sisters were turned into monsters..."

Before Yukio could finish, a emergency siren went off, making Hiroto and Aki cover their eyes out of surprise of the loud sound. A few seconds after the siren went off, Shiho and Hana hurried into the room. Hiroto fled at the sight of the two girls and hid behind his desk while they told their friends the reason for their panic.

"A Virus!" Shiho yelled. "There's a Virus outside the building, Yukio!"

Yukio jumped up to his feet at the mention of a Virus.

"A bunch of those Incomplete androids are outside trying to break into the lab," Hana told them. "They got the shutters down but they'll break through any minute now."

Yukio ran out of the room after being told that there were Incomplete androids outside. He took out his smartphone and ran towards the entrance.

...

The Incomplete Androids banged against the shutters protecting the lab building. Several of the androids used blowtorches to forcefully burn through the steel. Yukino got annoyed by the time it was taking for the machines to break through. She released some steam by ripping the head off one of the androids and crushing it in her hand.

"Honestly, I should burn through this myself," Yukino said scowling. "But I don't want to ruin another one of my kimonos..."

"SO HURRY IT UP!" Yukino screamed at the androids, a wave of heat blasting out of her body.

The androids banged and torched the shutters at a quicker pace after being yelled at.

"These weaklings can never get the job done!" A haughty voice laughed.

Yukino glanced at her Mole Virus that appeared at her side. The new Virus she created with the help of her brother had the appearance of a muscular, tall, and anthromorphic mole that only wore brown shorts. Its sunglasses glinted in the sunlight while the monster waved one of steel drills it had for fingers at the young woman.

"For jobs like this, you need to have precision," the Mole Virus said making its way to the shutters.

"Sure, I don't care what you need as long as you get through

The androids moved out of the monster's way as it lifted its right hand to the shutters. The drills it had for fingers each began to spin rapidly. It swung the drills at the shutters, piercing straight into the steel and the glass doors. Sparks flew while the drills created a hole through the shutters. Once the hole was created, the Mole Virus signaled the androids to continue their work. All together they grabbed the edges of the hole created by the Mole Virus and pulled to tear the hole open wider.

The Mole Virus turned around to face his master Yukino.

"Nothing beats the power and precision of a drill," the monster said spinning its drills again.

Yukino gritted her teeth, releasing another wave of heat that turned nearby flowers into cinders. "I said I don't care how you do it as long as you-"

**"Executing Gun App!"** Yukio's smartphone announced.

"Huh?" The Mole Virus spun around and was instantly greeted by several bullets made out of electricity striking it in the chest. Sparks flew out of the monster as it fell on its back. It struggled to get back on its feet while Yukino turned her eyes to the person who fired the bullets.

Yukio came out of the building in his Vitaz suit, pointing the barrel of his gun at the Mole Virus.

Intense heat radiated out of Yukino the moment she saw her brother. "Again!?" she screamed. "How many times will you get in the way!?"

"Don't get mad, Ms. Yukino!" her Mole Virus yelled jumping back to its feet. "I'll be sure to get rid of this pest!"

Yukio fired more rounds of electricity bullets into the monster's chest. It yelled in pain as electricity coursed through its body. Yukio took this chance to charge at the Virus but a man's arm wrapped itself around his own. The young man looked to his side and saw Hiroto holding onto him, a look of incredible interest in his eyes.

"This is amazing! How are you able to generate enough energy to create this suit over your body?" Hiroto asked. "I mean the amount should be absurd. It shouldn't be possible with a body like yours. Not only that, you can easily create an entire working firearm too-"

"What are you doing?" Yukio said slipping his arm out of Hiroto's hold. "I'm trying to fight."

Hiroto grabbed the young man's arm again. "I know but I just have so much questions..."

"Help me!" Yukio yelled at his friends.

Aki ran out of the building and though it took some effort, she managed to carry her disappointed cousin back into the safety of the stone building. With the distraction gone, Yukio moved his attention back to the Mole Virus.

The monster, however, was nowhere in sight.

"Where'd it go?" Yukio said looking around for the Virus and only seeing his sister and the Incomplete Androids.

Yukio's eyes fell on his sister, who responded by pointing at the hole in the ground where the Mole Virus used to stand.

Upon noticing the hole in the ground, Yukio's ears picked the whirring of drills underneath him and jumped back. The Mole Virus came out of the earth swinging its drills at the young man, succeeding in nicking his chin. Silver blood trickled out of the cut the monster gave the young man.

"Watch out for this mole," the Mole Virus chuckled scratching its long nose with one of its drills. "My drills will-"

The Mole Virus was immediately interrupted by Yukio's fist coming into contact with its nose. It screamed in pain, electricity coursing its head through its nose. The monster ignored the pain and swung a drill at Yukio's chest. Its attack was easily dodged by the young man and returned with several more punches into its chest. More electricity coursed through the Mole Virus' body but the monster ignored it again and continued to attack Yukio.

While the two fought, the Incomplete Androids watched until Yukino noticed.

"What are you useless pieces of junk doing?! Get into the building while he's distracted!" she ordered. "Complete your objective so we can leave!"

The Incomplete Androids followed their orders and ran past Yukio. They trampled everything that got in their way. Whether it was security guards, furniture, or a half-built robot left out in the hall, the androids crushed everything that came into their path. Once they reached the labs, they split to search the rooms as quickly as possible. Each android tore through cabinets and desks, searching for the file they were sent to find. A few of the machines even hacked into the lab's computers and searched the databases for the file.

Shiho, Hana, Aki, and Hiroto hid underneath the man's desk thrown on it's side inside his lab, waiting for the single Incomplete Android in the room to finish searching the files. It wrecked the several robots Hiroto had built while it searched but to the surprise of Hana and Shiho, Hiroto didn't make a single sound while his creations were destroyed. In fact, he looked strangely calm despite the situation they were in.

Before the girls could find out why Hiroto was so calm, they were surprised by the loud voice that echoed throughout the whole building.

"Whatever you're looking for, I got it! Ya hunks of scrap metal!" a young man's voice yelled to every Incomplete Android currently in the building.

The androids all forgot searching through the labs and ran towards the young man's voice. Once they were sure there were no more of the Incomplete Androids around, the three girl's came out of their hiding spot.

"Who was that?" Hana wondered taking a peek outside the room.

"I don't but we have a chance to escape now," Aki said throwing her strangely calm cousin onto her back.

Shiho took a look at Hiroto. "What's wrong with your cousin, Aki?" she asked her friend.

Aki sighed. "Being that close to another girl has this effect on him," she answered looking at her cousin.

...

Meanwhile, outside the building, Yukio continued to fight the Mole Virus. While the young man had the upper hand in speed, his blows to the monster's muscular body had little effect. The Mole Virus, on the other hand, only had to hit him once with one of its drills to deal severe damage to his body. He was forced to take a evasive approach to fighting the monster by dodging its attacks and hitting it back with a punch or kick. The damage he dealt to the monster, however, would take too long to build up.

Yukio had to increase his firepower.

His hand went to his smartphone's touchscreen and spun the wheel until he reached the icon he wanted.

"I wouldn't use that Overheat App if I was you," Yukino told her brother while floating a tiny fireball over her palm. "Remember that my Virus is the Fire Virus? What would happen if you used my own Fire Virus against me?"

Yukino laughed as she saw her brother take his hand away from his smartphone's touchscreen. He realized that using the power of the Fire Virus wasn't a good idea when the one infected with the Fire Virus is standing nearby.

The Mole Virus cackled at his opponent. "Ms. Yukino told me about that Overheat Form of yours," it laughed. "Too bad my master will enter the fight the moment you try using that fancy power of yours!"

The Mole Virus continue to cackle at Yukio, who tried to decide whether or not he should use the Overheat App.

Until he remembered that the Overheat App wasn't the only new App he received.

"Time to try out the other new Apps I got!" Yukio said.

Yukio's finger touched the screen of his smartphone and turned the wheel a space to the right, making the icon of a shadowy man lifting a giant boulder over his head. The young man hesitated for a second but quickly tapped the icon, causing his phone to announce his choice.

**"DANGER! OVERHARDEN APP!"** his phone yelled in a menacing deep voice

Yukino and the Mole Virus jumped at the sound of the new App Yukio used.

"Overharden App? You can use another Virus' power!?" Yukino yelled at her brother.

"You never told me he has another one of those Apps, Ms. Yukino!" the Mole Virus said looking at its master.

Yukino threw a fireball at her Virus, creating a tiny explosion that made the monster lose its balance and fall. "I didn't know he had another one, you stupid Virus!"

Their attention went back to Yukio, who had started glowing with a strong light. The young man swung his hand forward and pointed at both his sister and the Mole Virus.

"I'll... show... you..."

Yukino and the Mole Virus both watched surprise as the young man's speech slowed down to the point that they couldn't understand it. They reacted with even more surprise when patches of stone formed over Yukio's body. The patches of stone grew and spread around the young man's body until not a inch of the suit's silver and gold was left behind. Yukio stood before the two as a petrified statue pointing at them with lifeless insect eyes.

"What just happened?" the Mole Virus said scratching its head with one of its drills.

Yukino walked up to the stone statue of her brother and knocked against his petrified forehead. "I don't know," Yukino said staring at the statue.

A thought crossed her mind, making the young woman grin wickedly.

"But I don't care! This is our chance to get rid of my brother!" Yukino laughed.

Yukino tapped against the statue's head.

"Destroy this statue!" she ordered her Virus.

"It'll be my pleasure, Ms. Yukino," it chuckled while spinning its drills.

The Mole Virus swung its drills back and took aim for the statue of Yukio. Once it was done aiming, the monster spun its drills at the fastest setting it had and swung all ten of its drills at the statue of Yukio.

The headless body of a Incomplete Android, however, struck the Mole's Virus and messed up its aim. The drills, instead, struck the ground right next to the statue of Yukio.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you kill my assistant," a man's voice said from the direction the body of a Incomplete Android had come from.

Both Yukino and the Mole Virus turned their eyes towards the direction where the man's voice had come from. They saw a young man that looked about the same age as Yukio, wearing paint-stained clothes, standing at the entrance to the lab building. A head of a Incomplete Android was held in the young man's palm, its camera-like eyes spinning wildly. The young man tossed the android's head aside and used his other hand to adjust his bandana.

"Who're you?" the Mole Virus said pointing at the young man with one of its drills.

The young man chuckled at the monster's question.

"Every patient needs to know the name of their doctor," he chuckled.

The young man's hand took out a metal belt that had a metallic snake wrapped around it. With one swing of his hand, the belt swung around his waist with the tail of the snake entering into the small hole of the green box inside the snake's mouth. The snake's eyes flashed white as the whole belt glowed with a silver light.

"My name's Kenji Sakaki," he told Yukino and the Mole Virus.

The young man named Kenji swung his left arm into the air while his right hand grasped the head of the snake that was a part of his belt.

"Begin preparation for the Mediz program!" Kenji yelled to his belt.

**"Yes, Doctor!"** his belt announced in a cheery female's voice.

A silver ring came out of Kenji's belt after his belt spoke. The ring spun and spun until it rose above the young man, continuing to spin while it remained in the air.

Yukino threw another fireball at her monster. "What are you doing? Attack him before he finishes whatever he's doing!" she yelled at the monster.

The Mole Virus charged at the young man, each one of its drills spinning furiously. While the monster ran at him, Kenji swung his left hand down to strike the head of the snake wrapped around his belt. The snake's fangs sunk into the belt's Driver, causing the snake's eyes to flash a brighter silver light.

"Henshin!" Kenji yelled ignoring the incoming attack.

A curtain made out of silver energy fell from the ring floating above Kenji. The curtain hid and protected Kenji from the Mole Virus, whose drills simply bounced off the silver curtain. Several more strikes to the curtain proved it was indestructible. Yukino and the monster were forced to watch the young man transform from within the curtain.

Steam bellowed out from under the curtain as silver energy transformed the young man. Energy wrapped around his body and transformed into clothing. The steam stopped coming out once the transformation finished and a silver gloved hand grasped the curtain. With one swing of his arm, Kenji turned the silver curtain into a shower of sparks, revealing his new appearance.

Kenji stood before Yukino and the Mole Virus wearing a silver suit that resembled Yukio's Vitaz suit but with a few alterations. His suit didn't have golden circuits woven into the fabric, his insect eyes were pure white instead of Yukio's gold, and he had no letter V on his chest. Instead, Kenji's suit wore a silver doctor's coat, a white mask over his mouth, and overall had the look of a doctor to his appearance.

"Preparation complete," Kenji said lifting up his hands into a pose like a surgeon ready for surgery.

The Mole Virus forgot its surprise at the appearance of a man with a suit similar to Yukio's and simply swung its drills at the young man. The drills, however, missed their target as the monster fell forward, screaming in pain as silver blood poured out of both its Achilles heels. Yukino looked at her screaming Virus and then back to Kenji, whose hands were glinting silver like a scalpel.

"Don't worry," Kenji said looking down at the monster.

"I'll be the cure for your disease."

...

"Come on, the exit is this way," Aki said pointing to the emergency exit door at the end of the hallway.

Aki led the residents of the building to the emergency exit while Hana and Shiho made sure the group stayed together and that no Incomplete Androids were behind them. Hiroto remained on his cousin's back, still in shock by being in close proximity to other females.

"I can't hear those things anymore," Shiho said noticing no more sounds of gears came from behind their group.

"Maybe they were destroyed," Hana responded helping a scared female scientist back to her feet.

"I guess," Shiho said taking another glance behind her shoulder. "But whose voice took their attention? It wasn't Yukio's voice."

"Who knows? All we need to care about is getting these people away from Yukio's fight," Hana told her friend.

Hana and Shiho stopped talking once the group reached the emergency exit. They watched as Aki let out a sigh of relief and grasp the door's handle. She gave the door a push and it swung open, revealing the view of a parking lot...

That also had the view of Yukiteru coming out of a manhole.

Aki froze at the sight of Yukio's older brother and even let out a tiny cry when Yukiteru turned to face her and the group of men and women behind Aki.

"Well, isn't this a surprise?" Yukiteru chuckled.

_To be continued..._


	10. Episode 10: The Doctor Is In part 2

The scientists and other employees of the lab ran past Aki, leaving the three college girls behind. Ignoring the others, Yukiteru focused his attention on the three girls left behind. He knew that the girls understood how much danger Yukimaru posed to them, simply by staring at each of their terrified expressions. They stood at the building's exit, ready to run the other way back into the building.

"Aren't you two friends with my little brother?" The android said, breaking the silence between them.

Aki, Hana, and Shiho jumped at the sound of Yukiteru's voice. Aki's hand released the door's handle, causing it to swing shut. The three girls stepped away from the door and turned around to run. The sound of rushing water, however, stopped them. They spun around to see gallons of water push itself through the gaps of the door to gather together into one large body of water on the other side of the door. Yukiteru appeared from the body of water and continued to give the three girls an expression of interest.

"You're the human my sister injected the Bat Virus into," Yukiteru said noticing Shiho.

Shiho took another step back after seeing Yukiteru focus his attention to her.

"It's a shame," he continued. "If my brother hadn't cured you, the Bat Virus would have been ready for harvest by now."

"She couldn't sleep because of that Bat Virus!" Hana yelled at the android. "Shiho would have died by now if Yukio hadn't saved her."

Hana hid behind Aki the moment Yukiteru turned his eyes to her.

"It must be so nice to be ignorant," he said shaking his head.

Yukiteru walked past the girls, who simply moved out of his way.

"We would have forced you to continue living," Yukiteru chuckled while walking away.

...

The nano-machines in the Mole Virus' body hurried to repair the damage done to its Achilles heel. Tendrils of silver blood repaired the muscle within a minute. Kenji remained where he stood, waiting for the Mole Virus to heal and get back on its feet before he continued to fight the monster. Once the Mole Virus was standing back on its feet, it spun its drills and charged at Kenji.

"That hurt, you bastard!" the monster yelled at the man.

Kenji spun around the moment the Mole Virus came near him. He swung his hand down at the monster, giving it a large gash on its arm. Silver blood dripped from the wound as the monster released another pained shout.

"Power isn't my specialty," Kenji told the monster. "I'm more inclined towards attacks like this..."

"Needle and Suture!" Kenji yelled at his belt.

"**Yes, Doctor!**" it replied.

A needle with a thin and silver string came out of the snake's mouth. Kenji grabbed the needle with two fingers and stabbed it into the monster's chest. With the needle stuck in the Mole Virus' body, the string wrapped itself around the monster's whole body.

"What is this?" the Mole Virus said trying to break the strings binding it.

"Don't move so much, you'll open your wounds," Kenji chuckled.

Kenji poked the monster's shoulder, causing it to lose its balance and fall. Kenji laughed at the Mole Virus rolling around on the ground.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill you!" The Mole Virus yelled continuing to try and break its bindings.

"You poor thing," Kenji said looking down at the monster. "Can't even see how sick you are."

"What are you talking about? I'm not sick!" it yelled back.

Kenji took a step towards the bound monster. "Don't worry, you won't be sick any longer..."

"Syringe!" he said to his belt.

"**Yes, Doctor!**" it replied.

A long and sharp needle extended out of the young man's wrist. Kenji aimed the tip of the needle to the Mole Virus and swung it down.

"Help me, Miss Yukino!" the Mole Virus cried.

"Fire Virus Corruption Start!"

A pillar of flame came down between Kenji and the Mole Virus. Kenji jumped back and watched as the pillar disappeared, revealing the transformed Yukino. Magma in the shape of Yukino's curvy body stood in front of the Mole Virus and Kenji. Black iron covered her chest, arms, legs, and several other parts of her body. Two bright lights were in the spot where her eyes used to be. Intense heat radiated off of her body, melting everything around her except for the Mole Virus. Her heat even caused the string binding her monster to snap, freeing the Mole Virus.

"I'll punish you later for making me use this," Yukino said to her Virus, her voice sounding like a combination between her normal voice and a computerized female's voice. "But for now, I want you to hurry up and destroy my brother! I'll take care of this other idiot..."

"Yes, Miss Yukino!"

The Mole Virus charged at the statue of Yukio. Kenji jumped in front of its path but was struck by a ball of magma. He screamed in pain as the magma burned through his suit.

"Cool me down!" Kenji yelled to his belt.

**"Yes, Doctor!"**

A spray of cold mist came out of the snake's mouth, cooling down the magma and turning it into rock. Kenji broke the pieces of rock sticking to his body and kicked the Mole Virus in the side, sending it flying into a nearby bush.

"Two on one isn't my style," Kenji whispered to the statue of Yukio. "Let's get out of here and help you back to normal."

"Steroids!" he ordered his belt.

**"Yes, Doctor!"**

Kenji grabbed the statue of Yukio and after his belt injected him, he lifted the statue over his head.

"Farewell!" Kenji yelled at Yukino and the Mole Virus.

After saying farewell, Kenji ran into the building with the statue of Yukio.

"Where are you going?! You can't leave!" Yukino screamed releasing a wave of heat so intense that anything flammable nearby was set aflame.

"Miss Yukino! Please calm down! You're burning me!" the Mole Virus yelled while being burned by the heat radiating from its master.

"Chase after them!" Yukino ordered her Virus.

The Mole Virus jumped to its feet despite being burned by its master. It spun its drills and struck the ground with them. It disappeared into the earth to chase after Kenji and the statue of Yukio. Yukino remained outside the building and undid her transformation. She stood among the burning plants and melting cement, not affected at all by the heat.

"Yukio got another power," Yukino whispered to herself. "I have to do something about this..."

Yukino walked out of the melting destruction she caused and into the building.

...

Kenji ran through the building, carrying the statue of Yukio above his head. Every one of his steps cracked the floor he ran on. He ignored the robot parts and other things he crushed under his weight and hurried farther into the building.

"I'm worried about Yukio..." Hana said.

Kenji was startled by the sound of a college girl's voice. He stopped running and looked around for any place to hide the statue of a young man and himself. The sound of three girls walking was getting closer, causing Kenji to panic even more. The young man opened the door to a nearby room and gently placed the statue of Yukio against the corner. He then ran over to close the room's door...

But standing at the open door was Hana, checking out the suspicious sounds she heard.

The two stood still, staring at each other with wide eyes.

Hana was the first to react.

"It's another Kamen Rider!" Hana screamed happily, pointing at the young man.

The college girl jumped up and down around Kenji, excited to see another Rider like Yukio. Kenji was more than surprised at her reaction and could only watch as the girl called her friends to show him to them. Both Shiho and Aki jumped at the sight of Kenji, surprised to see someone wearing a suit similar to their friend's. Kenji noticed the unconscious man one of the girl's was carrying on her back but quickly ignored him.

"Why is there another Rider here?" Aki wondered still staring at Kenji.

"He looks like a doctor," Shiho added. "Cool..."

"He must be the one who got rid of those Incomplete Androids earlier," Hana told her other friends.

Hana spun around till she was standing in front of Kenji again. "So what is your Kamen Rider name? You look like a doctor so it must be something like that," she said.

Kenji answered her question, despite still being stunned by her reaction. "Well, I have to use the name Mediz in order to transform but I don't know about being a-"

"So your name is Kamen Rider Mediz," Hana interrupted.

"Enough, Hana," Aki said tired of seeing her excitement. "We need to get out of here."

Shiho nodded her head. "Yeah, Yukio should be finishing off the Virus by now."

Kenji glanced over at the statue of Yukio in the corner. None of the college girls had noticed the statue since their attention was entirely focused on him. "Actually..."

The young man pointed at the statue of Yukio. Each girl turned around and saw the statue. It took a moment for the girls to recognize the statue as their friend Yukio.

"The guy used some kind of new ability and it turned him into stone," he explained to the college girls. "If it weren't for me, he would have been killed by the Virus outside..."

...

Yukiteru scanned a file in the middle of a room full of dusty cabinets. Each file was the paper report of past experiments done by the lab. A pile of tossed-aside files laid behind the young man as he continued to go through each file cabinet, reading its contents and tossing it aside when he didn't find what he was looking for.

"How old-fashioned," Yukino said entering the room. "They should store their documents digitally instead of having them here."

Yukiteru didn't bother to turn around, choosing instead to keep his eyes on the file in front of him. "The file I'm looking for isn't in the database so it must be here."

The young woman picked up one of the files on the floor and took a quick glance at its contents. Despite having information about every science subject installed into her hard-drive, Yukino didn't understand a single sentence written on the papers. She scowled and set the file aflame, tossing it behind her. The file quickly burned into ash before it fell to the floor.

"Is this really necessary? We can just leave now and hope my Mole Virus doesn't go wild," Yukino said still scowling.

Yukiteru tossed another file into the pile behind him. "This is exactly what I predicted would happen if your Mole Virus fought Yukio," he said pulling out another file. "Even if he used his power to attack from underground, the power of that Overheat form would be too much-"

"Yukio didn't beat my Mole Virus," Yukino said starting to radiate enough heat to make steam rise from Yukiteru's body. "Some new guy wearing a suit like our brother's Vitaz suit came along and forced me to use my Corruption program."

"What?!" Yukiteru dropped the file he was holding. He noticed that for a second, he had lost his composure and hurried to restore it. The young man adjusted the pins attached to his suit while he continued speaking. "Our little brother has an ally, so what?"

"That's not all," Yukino replied. "This guy only appeared after Yukio used a new App to use the same Virus as Yukimaru, except it turned him into a statue."

Once again, Yukiteru was surprised by what his sister had said. "That is a problem," he said putting down the file. "But not anything you can't take care of."

"I can't handle this," Yukino yelled. "I'm weak against the Earth Virus! I need your help, Yukiteru!"

Yukiteru shook his head. "I'm sorry but we made a deal, Yukino," he told his sister. "I injected someone with the Mole Virus and you promised to help me get a file from this place. Dealing with Yukio wasn't part of my side of the deal."

"Yukio is vulnerable right now," Yukino argued. "If we both use our Corruption programs and fight with my Mole Virus, then we can finally kill him!"

"Not my problem," he replied taking another file out of the cabinet.

Heat exploded out of Yukino's body. So much heat radiated from her body, causing the files on the floor to burst into flames. The smoke from the flames activated the sprinklers, spraying water on the two. The water falling on Yukino quickly turned into steam.

Annoyed by the sprinklers, Yukiteru aimed his finger at them and shot a powerful but tiny shot of water at them. Each sprinkler was bent shut by the shot of water Yukiteru fired.

"Mind not ruining anymore of these files?" he said still not bothering to look at his sister. "I still got a few more cabinets to look though."

Yukino stomped her foot, burning the floor black beneath her. "Fine!" she screamed. "I'll take care of this myself! And I'll take all the credit for getting rid of Yukio!"

The young woman stormed out of the room, each one of her footsteps leaving a burning black footprint. Yukiteru took a single glance at the open door before going back to reading the file in his hand.

"I'm getting close to answering the question," he whispered tossing aside the file.

...

"So what's the plan?" Hana asked.

"We got to get Yukio back to normal," Shiho said looking at the statue of Yukio.

"That's the number one plan but according to this guy, that Virus is still out there," Aki told her friends. "And we need Yukio to fight him."

"How about we find a Soft or Gold Needle? That would solve our problem," Hana joked.

Aki slapped Hana across the head with a paper fan she took from Shiho. "Try to think of something we can get in the real world," she said handing the paper fan back to her friend.

"What did you do with your cousin, Aki?" Shiho said wondering where Hiroto went to.

"He was getting kind of heavy so I dropped him off in one of those labs back there," Aki said. "He'll be better off if no strange women are near him."

"Hey, what are you looking at me for?" Hana said noticing Aki glanced at her.

The three girls continued to talk amongst themselves while walking down the white hallway, ignoring Kenji who walked behind them with Yukio still on his shoulders. The young man remained transformed while he walked. He was thinking of a way to turn Yukio back to normal as well but none of his powers would do the job.

"Anyway, how about you tell us what your power is, Kamen Rider Mediz," Hana said spinning around to face Kenji.

"I told you before, I'm not a Kamen Rider," Kenji sighed.

Hana tilted her head to the side. "But you have big insect eyes," she said pointing at the eyes of his helmet. She then looked at his belt. "And you also have this cool belt around your waist. I bet you even say 'Henshin!' whenever you transform.

Kenji was glad his helmet hid his expression from the college girl. "I'm still not a Kamen Rider," he told Hana.

"Stop bothering him about the Kamen Rider thing, Hana," Aki said. "He might drop Yukio."

"Don't worry about that," Kenji said. "I wouldn't drop my assistant that easily, not even if-"

"Surprise!"

The Mole Virus came out of the floor beneath Kenji, its drills pointed upwards at his chin. The drills nicked Kenji's chin, causing him to drop the statue of Yukio. The three girls jumped to stop the statue from crashing into the floor. It took every bit of their strength to only keep the statue of Yukio from falling to the ground too fast. They got the statue to lay on the floor, leaving only a tiny crack on Yukio.

"Damn," the Mole Virus said seeing the statue of Yukio didn't break. "My plan didn't work out."

Kenji rubbed the part of his chin nicked by the Mole Virus' drill. "This is a nice chance to finally cure you of your sickness," he told the monster.

"I'm not sick," the Mole Virus told Kenji. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Doesn't matter how much you say you aren't sick," Kenji replied. "My eyes can easily see the Virus infecting you."

The Mole Virus swung its drills at the young man, who simply spun around to dodge its attack. Kenji then returned the monster's attack with his own, swinging both of his scalpel-like hands at the back of the Virus. It screamed in pain as two long gashes were cut into its back. Silver blood trickled out of its wounds while the Mole Virus' nano-machines hurried to repair the damage done to its back. The monster swung its arm back but Kenji jumped out of its way.

"We're going to see Kamen Rider Mediz fight!" Hana yelled excited.

"No we are not, you stupid girl," Aki said slapping Hana again with Shiho's paper fan.

"We got to get out of his way," Shiho said grabbing a hold of the statue of Yukio. "Help me lift Yukio out of here."

The other two girls grabbed a hold of the statue with Yukio and together, the three college girls managed to lift Yukio a few inches off the ground. They then hurried to bring the statue to the closest place they could find that would be safe for the man.

"That's my target!" The Mole Virus said turning around to see the girls fleeing with the statue of Yukio.

"A patient's attention should only be on his doctor," Kenji said grabbing the Mole Virus' shoulder.

Kenji spun it around and punched the monster in the face, cracking its sunglasses. It yelled in pain as the light blinded the Mole Virus. It continued to yell from the pain the light gave its eyes. The Mole Virus jumped into the air, aiming its drills at the floor beneath it. The drills pierced the floor, letting the Mole Virus burrow underneath.

"The same trick won't work twice," Kenji yelled down the hole the Mole Virus disappeared into.

Kenji stepped away from the hole and looked down at his belt.

"X-ray!" he ordered.

**"Yes, Doctor!"** his belt replied.

The insect eyes of Kenji's helmet flashed a bright silver light the moment after he gave the order. Kenji aimed the silver light at the ground, showing the young man every pipe and power cords underneath his feet. He also saw the tunnels created by the Mole Virus' drilling. His eyes followed the tunnels until he saw the silver body belonging to the Mole Virus. Kenji could see every nano-machine swimming through the infected monster's blood.

"Here he comes," Kenji said seeing the Mole Virus change directions back towards him.

"Syringe!" the young man yelled.

**"Yes, Doctor!"** his belt responded.

A long syringe needle popped out of the man's wrist, the tip of the needle aimed towards the floor. Kenji moved his body into the path the Mole Virus.

"I'll be the cure for your disease," Kenji whispered readying himself.

The ground exploded as the Mole Virus flew out, drills pointed to its target Kenji. The monster was ready to pierce the young man with its drills but did not expect to see the young man with a long syringe needle aimed at it. Before the monster could hit the young man with its drills, Kenji stabbed the monster in the chest with his syringe needle. The monster's drills stopped a inch away from Kenji's face. It ignored the silver light coming from Kenji's eyes as it looked down at the needle sticking out of its chest.

"B-but... how..." the Mole Virus whispered.

Silver blood began to be sucked out of the monster through the needle. It watched as the Mole Virus' body shrunk in front of Kenji's eyes. Its drills shrunk, unraveled, and transformed back into normal human fingers. The monster's muscular body turned flabby as the monster transformed back into an overweight and middle-aged man wearing only the same shorts the monster wore. The needle stopped sucking blood from the man once the color of the blood turned from silver into red. Kenji pulled out the needle and placed his hand on the hole it left behind on the man's body.

"Bandage," Kenji said softly to his belt.

**"Yes, Doctor!"**

A silver light shined from his hand over the bleeding hole left behind. The light transformed into a tight bandage over the unconscious man's wound. After covering his wound, Kenji picked up the unconscious man and laid him against the wall.

After changing the man back into a human, Kenji looked at the syringe coming out of his wrist. It retracted back into his wrist.

"Another sick patient cured," Kenji chuckled shaking his hand. "Pretty easy this time too."

Kenji placed his against the snake head of his belt, ready to undo his transformation after finishing off the Mole Virus. A wave of heat, however, stopped him.

"My Mole Virus..." Yukino's voice said through gritted teeth.

Kenji turned his eyes to see the female android standing at the other end of the hallway. Her normally beautiful face was twisted from the anger she felt towards Kenji for defeating her Mole Virus. So much heat radiated from the young woman that everything near her begun to either melt or burst into flames.

"I'm going to send you to Hell!" she screamed releasing another wave of heat that made the lightbulbs above them shatter.

"Fire Virus Corruption Start!"

Once again, Yukino exploded in a ball of fire and heat, transforming back into the being made entirely out of magma and black iron. Fully transformed, Yukino snapped her arms at the young man, creating two long whips made out of the magma making up her body. The whips of magma struck Kenji, sending him flying into the wall and creating a thick black line on his suit where the whips touched him. He yelled from the burning pain coming from the black line left behind on his suit. Yukino didn't bother to let him recover as she discarded the whips and leapt towards the young man, striking him in the helmet with her black iron claws. The young man fell to the ground but Yukino lifted him back to his feet.

Yukino grabbed Kenji's wrist and watched him yell in pain as her touch burned him through the suit. She then punched the young man in the gut, leaving another burn in the shape of her fist.

"Hope you have a high tolerance for pain," Yukino whispered to Kenji. "Cause I'm going to take out all of my anger on you..."

Yukino lifted her fist to punch Kenji again but a young man's voice stopped her.

"Enough, Yukino!" Yukiteru yelled.

Yukino released her grip on Kenji, letting him fall to the ground. Even without her hand touching the young man, the heat radiating off of her body was enough to make it hard to breath for Kenji. If it weren't for his suit's protection, Kenji would have long been turned to ash from the heat alone.

Fortunately for Kenji, Yukino undid her transformation the moment after she saw her brother standing at the other end of the hallway. He held up a single folder to his sister.

"I got what I wanted," he told his sister. "Let's hurry and leave before Yukiya finds out you used your Corruption program."

Yukino looked down at the beaten young man.

"You got lucky," she said kicking him in the stomach.

Kenji coughed while the female android turned around and followed behind her brother as the two hurried to leave the building. The young man pushed himself up until he was sitting against the wall. He grabbed the snake head of his head and struck it, forcing the snake to release its bite on the belt's driver. With one pull, Kenji slipped the belt off his waist, undoing his transformation in a flash of silver light. The young man sat there against the wall, breathing heavily.

"I'm not meant to fight people like that woman," he said to himself.

He took a look over at the man who used to be infected with the Mole Virus.

"Helping the sick is more my style," Kenji said smiling.

"So that's how you look untransformed, Kamen Rider Mediz..."

Kenji jumped at the voice of Hana coming from less than a foot from where he sat. He spun his head to the side to see the college girl standing over him, her eyes stuck on the belt he held in his hand.

"For your information, my name is Kenji Sakaki," he sighed hiding his belt from the college girl. "So now that you know my name, how about you stop calling me a Kamen Rider?"

Hana looked disappointed to hear Kenji refusal to be called a Kamen Rider but got over it quickly once she remembered what she was going to ask him.

"So, Kenji..." Hana said making a nervous laugh.

"What is it?" Kenji asked noticing her suspicious laugh.

"Yukio is getting kind of heavy," she answered. "His weight is a little too much for three frail college such as ourselves..."

Kenji sighed again as he got back up on his feet.

"I get it," he said as he took out the belt and swung it around his waist again.

Hana let out an excited scream as she watched Kenji transform back into Mediz in order to help the three girls carry the statue of Yukio.

...

"Is it too much trouble for you to let me read the file?" Yukino said while she walked with her brother through an alley. "I had to sacrifice the Mole Virus and a lot of Incomplete Androids to get that stupid little file. You can at least tell me what you need for."

"This file is far too complicated for you, Yukino," Yukiteru answered. "But I can tell you that this file holds one of the projects that led to our birth."

Yukino scowled. "Again with that? You already read all the files we have at the mansion, Yukiteru," she said heating up the air around her by a few degrees. "When you will just leave this alone? Father said himself that we can't reproduce the accident that brought us to life..."

Yukino continued to talk to Yukiteru but her brother didn't listen. Instead, the young man looked at the list of names written on the paper in his hands. He recognized most of the names on the paper except for one.

The name 'Yuki Kikaido' was written on the paper.

"I found it," he whispered to himself. "This person is the one Yukio calls Mom..."

_End of 'The Doctor Is In'._


	11. Episode 11: Anger And Teams

At Hikari Weekly Daycare, dozens of children ran around the playground, every one of the daycare's employees exhausting themselves to keep track of them. Only one of the employees was happy to play with the children. He was a young man in his mid-twenties wearing the same daycare uniform as the other adult. The little boys and girls pulled on his sleeves, trying to get him to play with them.

"It's Nanashi's turn to play with us," the boy said.

"No, it's our turn!" the girl yelled back.

"Keep pulling and you'll ruin my sleeves," the young man Nanashi laughed. "Besides, it's her turn today, Masao."

The boy let out a disappointed moan but went back to playing with the other boys at the daycare. Nanashi left with the girl to play with the others. Every one of the other daycare noticed the enthusiastic expression on his face while he played with the girls and their dolls. They noticed that no matter how long he played with the children, he kept that same expression despite sweating so much more than the other adults. In fact, he made their jobs easier by taking most of the children's attention.

At the end of the day, after the parents took their children back home, Nanashi, drenched in sweat, went into the back room and changed into his clothes. After throwing his black jacket on, he turned around and was about to exit the building until he heard the voice of his boss talking to someone on her phone.

"We're in the red again this month," his boss, an short and stocky old woman with graying hair, said. "The price of taking care of these children and repairing this place is getting higher and higher everyday..."

Nanashi stood next to his boss' door, eavesdropping on her conversation.

"We might have to close down the daycare if things continue like this," his boss sighed.

Nanashi frowned at hearing the news and hurried out of the building.

...

"So you are Kamen Rider who saved me from being shattered by the Mole Virus."

Yukio stared at Kenji from the other side of the outdoors table they sat at. A young waitress brought a plate of strawberry cake to Yukio and placed a iced coffee in front of Kenji. The young man sipped his iced coffee while the android continued to stare at him with those gray eyes of his. Hana sat next to both the young men, a grin on her face. She awaited the reaction from Kenji, almost standing up from her chair while she waited.

Hana's eyes turned back to Yukio, who had stood up and took out his smartphone.

"Let's transform together!" Yukio yelled out of his own excitement from meeting another Rider.

Kenji almost dropped his iced coffee out of surprise. "W-what?" he managed to ask.

"We're both Riders so we must transform together," Yukio answered. "Or rather... I want to see you transform."

Kenji sighed and put down his iced coffee. "How many times must I say it?" he responded. "I am not a Kamen Rider. I'm just curing people who have been infected by the Viruses."

"By yelling 'Henshin!' and putting a costume with insect eyes like Yukio's Vitaz form," Hana added. "If you aren't a Kamen Rider, then Yukio isn't one either."

Kenji regretted choosing to stay with these two even after he managed to get Yukio out of his statue problem. They both kept pestering him with questions about his powers and no matter how many times he told them, they both believed him to be a Kamen Rider like Yukio.

"Listen, I don't care if you call me a Kamen Rider, even though I'm not, but I do have a mission to complete," Kenji told the two. "As Mediz, it is my mission to cure those affected by the Viruses that have been going around lately. As far as I know, these Viruses are connected to you, the one who calls himself Kamen Rider Vitaz. Mind telling me what that connection is, Yukio?"

Yukio's previous excitement disappeared as the young man sat back down in his chair. "My brothers and sisters are the ones spreading Viruses," he answered.

"Then that woman who turned into a lava monster?"

"That's my sister, Yukino," Yukio replied.

"She almost roasted me alive, you know," Kenji told the android.

"I'm sorry if my siblings have caused any trouble," Yukio said bowing his head.

"I managed to escape," Kenji said taking a sip of his iced coffee. "But it was a close call. I need information on your siblings if I will have a chance against them later."

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

Kenji held up a finger. "Everything," he answered. "Starting with the powers of each of your siblings."

Yukio nodded. "Alright," he responded. "Out of my five siblings, the one you have to watch out the most is my oldest brother Yukiya-"

Before Yukio could tell Kenji any more information on his siblings, there was a scream echoing throughout the whole shopping street. The three, as well as everyone else around, turned their eyes to see a masked man running away from suspicious men in black suits and sunglasses. The suited men had knocked down everyone in their way while they chased after the masked man. They saw that the masked man held a briefcase to his chest, keeping a tight hold on it while running away. Whoever the suspicious men were, they wanted the briefcase back from the masked man.

The suspicious men got tired of chasing after the masked man and grabbed a hold of the gun within their suits. Before they could pull out their guns, however, the masked man had stopped as a young man blocked his path.

"Stop right there!" Yukio yelled at the masked man, holding up his palm to make the gesture to stop.

Both Kenji and Hana turned their heads to the chair where Yukio used to sit, confused as to how he managed to stop the masked man so fast.

"G-get out of my way!" the masked man yelled taking out a switchblade knife. He swung the blade at Yukio's neck but the young man grabbed his wrist before the tip of the weapon could come into contact with his skin.

"P-please don't get in my way," the masked man begged. "I don't... I don't want to hurt anybody..."

Yukio was surprised by the terrified look in the masked man's green eyes. He looked to be more afraid of what he would happen if Yukio didn't let him go than being captured. But one other thing Yukio noticed about the man surprised him.

He had the signal of a Virus activating coming off his body.

"A Virus!" Yukio yelled letting go of the masked man's wrist.

"Berserk Virus Corruption Start..."

It was too late as the masked man's body exploded with black energy that completely enveloped him. The suspicious suited men stopped as the black energy was molded by an invisible hand into a massive human shape towering over Yukio. The black energy disappeared, replaced by the burning red skin of the monster that the masked man turned into. A behemoth of a man stood in front of Yukio, wearing the furs of various large animals over its muscular body. It's face was covered by the skull of an unknown animal with only its growling mouth exposed.

The very first thing the Virus did once it appeared was roar. Everyone nearby blocked their ears from the earth-shaking volume of the monster's roar. It's roar distracted Yukio long enough for the Virus to swing its massive fist into the young man's gut.

"Yukio!" Hana screamed as the android flew through the air until he crashed into a street lamp. The college girl and Kenji ran over to the young man after he landed painfully on the cement street.

"Who would of thought we would find a Virus just the day after defeating that Mole Virus," Kenji chuckled.

The young man took out his belt and swung it around his waist, the tail of the snake snapping to place inside the snake's mouth where the Driver was. Kenji swung his left arm into the air while his right hand grasped the snake's head. The snake's eyes shined white before Kenji yelled.

"Begin preparation of the Mediz Program!" he yelled to his belt.

**"Yes, Doctor!"** his belt replied in a cheery female's voice.

"He's transforming, Yukio!" Hana squealed while shaking the equally excited android.

A silver ring came out of Kenji's belt after it spoke. The ring spun and spun until it rose above the young man, continuing to spin while it remained in the air. Kenji swung his left hand down to strike the head of the snake, sinking its fangs into the Driver.

"Henshin!" he yelled as the snake's eyes flashed a brighter silver light.

A curtain of silver energy fell over the young man, both hiding and protecting him from the Berserk Virus. Steam bellowed out from under the curtain as silver energy transformed the young man. Energy wrapped around his body and transformed into clothing. The steam stopped coming out once the transformation finished and a silver gloved hand grasped the curtain. With one swing of his arm, Kenji turned the silver curtain into a shower of sparks, revealing his transformation into the Mediz suit.

"So cool," Hana whispered looking ready to faint.

Yukio hurried to get back to his feet and took out his smartphone. "Get out of here, Hana," he told his friend.

The college girl nodded and ran to a safe distance away from the two men and the Berserk Virus. Hana, however, was about to faint again as Yukio turned on his smartphone and tapped the belt icon.

**"Executing Driver App!"** his phone announced.

A metal belt appeared around Yukio's waist with a empty slot for his smartphone. The young man snapped the smartphone into the empty slot of his belt. His phone emitted electricity while the icons on the screen shook violently.

"Henshin!" Yukio yelled spinning the wheel of icons with his finger, activating the app to transform into Kamen Rider Vitaz.

**"Executing Vitaz App!"**

A spinning wheel of electricity came out of Yukio's belt. The wheel of electricity spun around the young man's body in a perfect orb, blasting his body with bolts of electricity and equipping him with parts of the Vitaz suit. Golden circuits ran up through the fabric of Yukio's suit while one last of blast of electricity formed the Vitaz suit's helmet over his head. Yukio's transformation ended as he tossed his gold and silver scarf aside, creating a blast of wind that toppled anything nearby that wasn't nailed down.

"I told you we'll transform together," Yukio said turning his head to Kenji.

"This doesn't count," Kenji hurried to reply. "And I'm still not a Kamen Rider."

"Looks like one to me," Yukio said staring at his insect eyes.

"Stop looking at my suit and focus on the Virus!" Kenji yelled getting irritated by the constant claims that he was a Kamen Rider.

Both Yukio and Kenji turned their heads to the Berserk Virus, who had been destroying anything near it while the two men transformed. The two men noticed the suspicious men were still nearby, the rest of the crowd having run away at the sight of the monster. They then noticed that the briefcase the masked man had most likely stole from them was underneath the monster, somehow escaping destruction from the rampaging Virus.

Kenji ran towards the Berserk Virus, Yukio following right behind him.

"I'm going to need power to injure this Virus," Kenji whispered noticing the dense muscles of the Berserk Virus' body. He looked down at his belt. "I need the saw!"

**"Yes, Doctor!"** his belt responded.

Kenji swung open his coat, revealing an impressive array of different medical instruments hanging from his coat. One lock attached to a sword-like saw unlocked, letting Kenji take it out. The young man held the saw tightly as he ran towards the Berserk Virus.

"Cover me!" he yelled to Yukio.

Yukio nodded and tapped the icon of a gun on his smartphone's screen.

**"Executing Gun App!"** his phone announced.

Yukio's slightly larger-than-normal gold and silver pistol appeared out of the electricity that came from his smartphone. The young man grabbed the pistol and aimed its barrel at the Berserk Virus, firing a few bullets made out of electricity at it. The bullets had no harming effect against the monster's tough skin but it got its attention. The Berserk Virus glared at Yukio with a sort of animalistic rage. Yukio got the Virus' attention long enough for Kenji to swing his saw at the monster's chest. The saw slashed open the burning red skin and silver blood poured out.

The Berserk Virus, however, ignored its injury and smashed Kenji into the ground with both its massive hands, breaking his saw into many pieces and making a dent in his helmet. It readied itself to strike the young man again with both its fists but Yukio stopped it. The android fired a few bullets of electricity straight into the wound Kenji had made, allowing his electricity to temporarily stun the monster. Kenji took the few seconds Yukio bought him to recover and distance himself away from the Virus.

"That Virus is damn strong," Kenji said rubbing the dent on his helmet made by the Berserk Virus. "Not to mention it just ignored my attack and struck me."

"Watch out!" Yukio yelled kicking Kenji in the side.

The Berserk Virus had charged at the two and Yukio's kick saved Kenji from suffering another injury from the monster. The Virus continued to charge through whatever was in its path. Yukio's eyes focused in on the monster's hands and noticed that it had picked up the briefcase and was running away.

"It's running away?" Kenji said confused. "I thought it was a mindless beast destroying everything around it. Guess it's smarter than we thought."

"We have to chase it," Yukio said spinning the wheel of icons on his smartphone before tapping the icon of a motorcycle.

**"Executing Vitacycle App!"** his phone announced.

Yukio's motorcycle appeared from within the large ball of electricity emitted by his phone. The young man jumped onto the motorcycle and twisted the handle, causing the engine to roar. Yukio chased after the Berserk Virus on his motorcycle, disappearing into the distance while Kenji remained where he stood.

"Aren't you going to follow them?" Hana asked coming out of her hiding place.

"Of course," Kenji answered. "As soon as my bike gets here..."

Hana looked down at the young man's hand and saw that he had pressed the button attached to some keys. She heard the roar of another motorcycle's engine nearby and turned around to see Kenji's bike drive up to them. The silver motorcycle was the same model as Yukio's but his had different decorations such as a snake shaped front with the vehicle's lights being its eyes. Hana couldn't shut her mouth after seeing the motorcycle in front of her.

"You are definitely a Kamen Rider," Hana said trying to hold back a laugh.

Kenji was glad he was wearing a helmet that hid his blushing face. He remained silent as he got on his motorcycle and drove it to follow after Yukio.

The young man soon caught up with the android and the fleeing Berserk Virus. They had followed the monster into a nearby abandoned quarry where it stopped. The monster looked behind its shoulders to see both Yukio and Kenji come to a stop, creating a cloud of dust from their vehicle's wheels. The two young men got off their motorcycles and stepped forward to face the monster.

They were surprised to see that the monster was calm.

"I can't keep my free will for much longer," the Berserk Virus told the two in a very deep and menacing voice. It dropped the briefcase and turned towards the two Riders. "Leave now before I kill you both."

"You are sick," Kenji said taking a step closer to the Virus. "We can help you."

"Give us the chance and we'll cure you," Yukio added.

The Virus sighed. "Curing me is impossible," it told the two. "My Berserk Virus has already mutated."

"Mutated?! What-"

Before Yukio could finish, the Berserk Virus released another shaking roar that made the two focus to stay standing. The masked man had lost control of the monster and it resumed destroying everything in sight, starting with the two men in front of it. It charged at the young men, swinging its massive arm at them when it got close. Kenji ducked under the swing while Yukio jumped over it. Kenji jumped at the monster and slashed at it with his scalpel-like hands, cutting it but not doing enough damage to make it bleed. Yukio continued to fire bullets of electricity at the monster's wounds but it wasn't having the same effect again. It was as if the monster adapted its body to no longer be stunned by Yukio's electricity.

"Hold him off, Kenji!" Yukio said spinning the wheel of icons on his smartphone.

The Berserk Virus tried to focus its attacks on Yukio but Kenji kept jumping in front of it, forcing it to deal with him instead.

Yukio tapped the Overheat App icon while Kenji held the Virus back.

**"DANGER! OVERHEAT APP!"** his phone announced in its deep male voice.

His phone continued to yell **'DANGER'** while intense heat radiated out of Yukio's body. Yukio's body glowed bright red as the heat stopped and his body exploded.

**"DANGER! VITAZ OVERHEAT FORM!"**

Almost instantly, Yukio jumped out of the black cloud of smoke created by his explosion. His Vitaz suit had changed into the Overheat Form, letting Yukio burn the Berserk with the kick that contacted with its cheek. The monster screamed in pain as its skin was burned by Yukio's foot. He didn't let up and jumped off the monster's head so his shoulder cannons were pointed down at it. Yukio let out a loud yell as two beams of heat blasted out of his shoulder cannons and struck the Berserk Virus. The beams of heat pushed back the Berserk Virus, leaving two black burn marks where they had hit.

The Berserk Virus, however, recovered quickly and charged at Yukio, tackling him into the ground. Despite Yukio's body burning the monster, it ignored the pain and struck Yukio over and over again with its fists. It took Kenji stabbing it a couple of times for it to forget Yukio and focus on the other Rider.

"This Virus is..." Kenji dodged one of the monster's punches. "Too aggressive!"

"It's like it just ignores our attacks," Yukio said blasting the Virus with his cannons again. He noticed that once again, his attacks were affecting the monster less and less with each hit. "Its body is adapting to our attacks too! At this rate, we won't be able to scratch this Virus with anything!"

"We got to hit it with one big blast!" Kenji told Yukio. "You got more firepower than I do so I'll make sure this monster can't move!"

Kenji jumped away from the Berserk Virus and looked down at his belt.

"I need bottles of Liquid Nitrogen now!"

**"Yes, Doctor!"** his belt answered

Instantly, bottle of liquid nitrogen popped out of the snake's mouth. Kenji grabbed the bottle leaking out white smoke and tossed each one at the monster's feet. The bottles shattered and covered the monsters with the freezing liquid, quickly creating ice sticking the Virus' feet to the ground. It tried to break the ice but while it did crack, the ice still gave Yukio enough time to prepare his strongest attack.

**"Executing Overdrive App!"** his phone announced.

Electricity exploded out of Yukio's body as the cannons coming out of his shoulders disappeared into his body and came out as one huge cannon out of his chest. Electricity and heat gathered inside the cannon until it was bursting with energy. A bright crimson light shined from within the cannon as Yukio readied his strongest attack.

"Blazing Bolt of Lightning!" Yukio yelled.

A bolt of lightning mixed with flames blasted out of the cannon, sending Yukio flying from the recoil. The bolt of lightning and fire struck the monster, sending it too into the air. It screamed from the pain of the electricity coursing through its body and the heat burning it. It only stopped flying through the air when it crashed into a crane and exploded in a cloud of electricity and fire. The cloud of smoke hung around the area it crashed while Yukio recovered. Yukio walked back to Kenji and stared at the cloud of smoke with him. A single huge figure stood up from within the cloud of smoke.

"That's impossible," Kenji whispered.

The Berserk Virus roared, dispelling the cloud of smoke around it. Black burns covered its whole body but they were quickly being repaired by the Virus' nano-machines. Yukio and Kenji could see its body becoming larger and stronger thanks to surviving the attack. While the two young men were depleted of strength, the Berserk Virus still looked to be top fighting condition.

"We have to run away," Yukio said. "That's the only option right now."

"For once, I agree with you," Kenji said.

The Berserk Virus heard their plan and wouldn't let them run away. It charged at the two, aiming to kill them both. Neither of the two young man had enough strength to outrun the monster to their bikes. Yukio and Kenji, however, weren't going down without a fight. They both braced themselves to fight the Berserk Virus.

Before the monster could hit the two men, a cloud of pure black smoke enveloped the area.

"You reached the maximum allotted time for you stay transformed," a man's voice said from within the black smoke cloud. "Turn back into your human form. This is an order from the Head of the Virus Mass-production Program."

Yukio and Kenji heard the Berserk roar once more before being forced to transform back into a human by the unknown man. They could see the outline of a tall man within the cloud of smoke standing in front of the shrinking Berserk Virus. The man grabbed the unconscious masked man and threw him onto his shoulder. He then turned around and noticed the two within his cloud of smoke, his attention focusing on Yukio.

"This is a pleasant surprise," the man said. "My brother fighting and losing against one of my Virus. You do not know what kind of honor this is."

"That gentleman-like way of speaking..." Yukio whispered. "It's him..."

"You know who this is?" Kenji asked.

"Yes, it's my oldest brother..."

The smoke cleared and revealed the man standing in it. He was a tall man with silky black hair going down to his waist. His skin was just as pale as Yukio's and if you looked close enough, you could see gold circuits underneath. Yukio's oldest brother wore a bartender's uniform with black gloves but the most noticeable aspect of his appearance was the black blindfold the man had over his eyes. Yukio already knew why he wore a blindfold.

Because his oldest brother Yukiya was blind.

"It's such a pleasure to be reunited with my baby brother, Yukio," Yukiya said in the gentleman-like voice he had. "But as you can see, I have to cut our reunion short. One of my Emotion Viruses must be returned to his home as soon as possible. His Virus has mutated and cannot be active for longer than an hour or else there will be terrible damage to the Virus within his blood."

Yukiya swung his arm around, his limb turning into a dense cloud of black smoke that hid him and the masked man on his shoulder. Soon, neither of the two men could see him within the cloud of smoke he created.

"I would like to fight you myself, Yukio, but I must be going," Yukiya said.

The cloud of smoke that hid Yukiya sunk into the ground, revealing Yukio's oldest brother to be gone and the masked man with him.

Both Yukio and Kenji took off their Drivers and turned back to normal in a flash of silver light. Kenji immediately fell to the ground, exhausted from their battle.

"That was too close," Kenji said in-between deep breathes. "We almost got killed by that Berserk Virus."

"If Yukiya didn't force it to turn back into a human, we would be dead," Yukio told Kenji.

"Yeah," Kenji agreed.

"But I did learn one other thing," Yukio said.

"And what's that?"

Yukio smiled. "We make a good team," he said.

Yukio's answer made Kenji smile too. "I guess we do," he replied. "But that's only natural since you're my assistant."

Yukio stared at Kenji. "I'm your what?"

...

Yukiya appeared at the window of a one-bedroom apartment and threw the masked man onto the couch. He remained unconscious until Yukiya threw a bucket of cold water into his face. The masked man instantly jumped out of unconsciousness and onto the floor groaning in pain. He stood up, rubbing his nose that had hit the ground. The masked man grabbed the top of his mask and pulled it off...

Nanashi took in one long breath after he removed his mask.

"Why didn't you just ask us if you needed money, Nanashi," Yukiya said to the young man. He waved his hand and pile of bills fell out of his sleeve.

"It's your fault I'm like this," Nanashi said burying his face into his couch. "I don't want anything to do with you or your Viruses."

Yukiya smiled. "That is your choice," he said still smiling. "But you are my Berserk Virus, which means you must not have free will..."

His hand grabbed Nanashi's collar and lifted the young man into the air until his face was staring right at Yukiya's.

"No matter how much you struggle against the nano-machines control, you will always be our slave, Nanashi," Yukiya said in the same gentleman-like voice of his. "You might as well reap the benefits while we still need your blood..."

Yukiya dropped Nanashi and disappeared in a cloud of pure black smoke, leaving behind a pile of ten thousand yen bills. Nanashi almost immediately kicked the pile of money aside.

"I am not your slave," he whispered to himself.

_End of 'Anger and Teams'._


End file.
